IT IS encouraging to learn that the foreign ministers of Guyana and Venezuela are to have an emergency meeting this week to resolve a dispute over the surprising ejection last Thursday of an oil-exploring vessel in Guyanese territorial waters by a Venezuelan naval ship.
Guyana contends that the United States-chartered seismic vessel, contracted by Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and flying a Panamanian flag, was well within the jurisdiction of its territorial boundaries when it was wrongfully ejected by the Venezuelan naval ship and taken to port.
Deeming it a hostile act, Guyana hastily pointed out to Venezuela that it has long been exercising jurisdiction in the said area, consistent with the extension of coastal states under international law and, more specifically, following the passage of the Maritime Boundaries Act of 1977.
In the circumstances, the government in Georgetown declared the incident in its exclusive economic zone to be “unprecedented” in the good relations that both neighbouring states have been pursuing.
Last week’s surprising development stands in sharp contrast to the deepening of relations initiated and sustained by the late President Hugo Chavez as the governments in Caracas and Georgetown have sought to steer away from a pattern of hostilities by previous administrations in Caracas arising from Venezuela’s 19th century claim to about two-thirds of Guyana’s 83 000 square miles.
Just last month during a one-day official visit to Guyana, President Nicolas Maduro pledged firm friendship with Guyana and assured his Guyanese counterpart, Donald Ramotar, that his administration was firmly “committed to “stronger ties” with the government and people of Guyana.
The current tension has emerged at a time when Maduro is seeking the approval of his country’s parliament to empower him with special powers to govern by decree to effectively deal with rampant corruption.
According to Maduro, who won the presidency by a narrow margin following the death last March of Chavez, embedded corruption posed a serious threat to the government and nation at a time of spreading food shortages, frequent disruptions in electricity supply and soaring inflation.
The diplomatic initiative being sought by the foreign ministers of Guyana and Venezuela should not be compromised by the incident involving the Venezuelan naval ship and the oil-exploring vessel.