Could the latest dispute catch Venezuela in verbal recognition of Guyana's ownership of Essequibo?
It may even turn out better if those boats were indeed in Guyanese waters, because it would force the issue in the forme of a public international incident with Venezuela being the bad guy.
This may yet get more interesting.
Caracas denies Guyana blast claim
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7099476.stm
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Guyana says 36 Venezuelan soldiers used helicopters and Compostion-4 (C-4), a type of plastic explosive, to blow up the two dredging machines on Thursday.
It has summoned Venezuela's ambassador to explain the incident.
Venezuela denies using force and said the army was removing illegal miners inside its own territory.
Territorial dispute
The dredges were in a disputed border region that has seen a number of recent incidents.
Guyanese troops and police travelled to the border on Friday to investigate whether the incident took place on the Wenamu River between the two countries, or the Cuyuni River in Guyana, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Guyanese Foreign Minister Rudy Insally told the news agency AFP that his country was "very disturbed by this report because it affects our territorial sovereignty."
But Venezuela's ambassador to Guyana, Dario Morandy, told AFP that his country could provide co-ordinates to show the incident had occurred within Venezuelan borders.
The ambassador also accused illegal miners of polluting rivers with mercury and said Venezuela was protecting its natural resources.
2 comments:
how exactly will making Venezuela the bad guy help Guyana again?
Al-Fallujah,
Venezuela CLAIMS 2/3 of our territory. They have never stopped being the 'bad guy' in that respect. They will continue to be 'bad' in that respect until they retract that claim.
As far as this particular incident goes, they should make a formal complaint if Guyanese miners are operating illegally in Venezuela.
Let me re-iterate that I am highly amenable to have a lasting peace with Venezuela once they recognize and respect our internationally recognized borders. The same goes for Suriname. We can get a lot more done of mutual benefit once we can resolve our differences and move forward.
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