The Guyana and Barbados opposition leaders condemned Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley and St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves’ positions on Venezuela’s border crisis today.
Hon. Aubrey C. Norton, opposition leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, and Dr. Ronnie Yearwood, president of the Democratic Labour Party, urge Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley to condemn Venezuela’s referendum on Guyana’s Essequibo region annexation.
Mottley noted during the 84th BLP conference that Venezuela is a good sister to Barbados and prays for maturity in all acts and conversations. Prime Minister Mottley added, “I hope that the rhetoric and the noise between Venezuela and Guyana does not turn our Caribbean into anything that is not a zone of peace because it matters to us that this Caribbean remains a zone of peace.”
Mr. Norton and Dr. Yearwood condemn Prime Minister Mottley’s speech because it contradicts the historical backdrop of Venezuela’s provocation, hostility, and clear threat of action against Guyana, a sister CARICOM nation. Mr. Norton and Dr. Yearwood regret that Prime Minister Mottley’s statement takes a neutral foreign policy position on the Guyana-Venezuela territorial dispute instead of urging Venezuela to abandon its referendum on the annexation of Guyana’s Essequibo region and allow the ICJ hearing to proceed.
In addition, Mr. Norton and Dr. Yearwood dismiss Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves’ claims that criticisms of their handling of the Guyana-Venezuela controversy were politically driven. They urge Mottley and Gonsalves to preserve Guyana’s territorial integrity and sovereignty without politicising the matter.
Mr. Norton and Dr. Yearwood reiterate that CARICOM foreign policy centres on protecting CARICOM states when their sovereignty is threatened. Thus, they ask Prime Minister Mottley to uphold Guyana’s territorial integrity and sovereignty like CARICOM.
Mr. Norton and Dr. Yearwood urge CARICOM countries that signed the Venezuela-Caribbean Petrocaribe oil procurement agreement to resist Venezuela’s attempts to use the agreement to gain support and weaken the Regional Integration Movement’s solidarity on the Territorial Controversy.
Mr. Norton and Dr. Yearwood recall that CARICOM nations have consistently upheld international law and ICJ rulings. They urge CARICOM nations to unambiguously defend Guyana’s territorial integrity and sovereignty in the ICJ case and respect its final ruling.
