US endorses Guyana’s stance on Essequibo but no military base

US endorses Guyana’s stance on Essequibo but no military base

US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Linda Thomas-Greenfield insisted Monday that her country supported Guyana’s stance in the dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region with Venezuela but denied that the President Joseph Biden administration was eyeing any military settlement in the region.

Thomas-Greenfield stressed from Georgetown -where she is attending the Caricom Annual Meeting- was now to chair the UN Security Council, which gives Guyana “an international and global position that it has not had before.” The US and Guyana will also “partner in the Security Council,” the diplomat explained.

Regarding a US military base in the South American country, Thomas-Greenfield reiterated Washington’s support for “the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Guyana and the agreement on the border divisions that was made in the 19th century” which provides for Guyana’s territorial integrity and its current border with Venezuela. Caracas has rejected the 1899 arbitration as well as the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) jurisdiction on the dispute.

Asked whether recent visits by senior US government and military officials to Guyana would be paving the way for a military base in the country, the ambassador said that to the best of her knowledge, there have been no discussions on that issue.

“It’s not something that I know of, it’s not something that I know of that Guyana has requested, but part of the reason we’re all visiting Guyana is because it’s now on the international stage,” as a member of the Security Council.

Tensions between Guyana and Venezuela have mounted since Caracas last year held a unilateral referendum to annex the territory and launched an action plan to that end. Although in December Nicolás Maduro and Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali agreed not to threaten each other, disputes recur with some frequency.

On Sunday, Canada’s Minister of International Development, Ahmed Hussen, also expressed in Georgetown his support for Guyana’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and stressed that his country hopes for a “peaceful and diplomatic” settlement of the dispute with Venezuela over the Essequibo at a time Guyana is to chair the Security Council.