BRASILIA, CMC – Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called the South American trade bloc – Mercosur – on Thursday to speak out on the rising tensions in the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy.
In a tweet on X, formally known as Twitter, Lula said, “An important issue that we have to debate is the Essequibo issue. Mercosur cannot stay away from the issue.”
The foreign ministers of the four Mercosur trading bloc nations met this week in Rio de Janeiro for its 63rd group meeting.
The South American alliance is set to announce several milestones before Brazil hands over the bloc’s rotating presidency to Paraguay. Lula also wants the Guyana/Venezuela issue to be addressed.
Venezuela is a full member but has been suspended since December 2016. Mercosur also counts Guyana and six other states as associate members.
The Brazilian Government has already expressed its support for the current International Court of Justice (ICJ) process to resolve the controversy over the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award.
But with new moves by the Nicolas Maduro government to essentially annex the Essequibo region, Lula is recommending mediation.
“Brazil is available to host as many negotiation meetings as necessary. We do not want and do not need more war, especially on our continent. We must build peace to improve people’s lives,” the Brazilian Head of State said.
Guyana believes the matter is squarely before the ICJ for resolution.
There is no interest on the Guyana side to return to bilateral talks on the issue since many decades of these talks yielded no fruits.
Guyana remains open to dialogue with Venezuela on any other issue.
The ICJ, presiding over the substantive border case, ruled last Friday that Venezuela shall refrain from seeking to seize control of the Essequibo.
The boundary between Guyana and Venezuela was determined by an arbitration tribunal 124 years ago, but Venezuela rejected the award in 1962, saying it was flawed. A mechanism was set up to solve the controversy. After decades of talks failing, the United Nations Secretary-General referred the matter to the ICJ, the UN’s principal judicial organ.
The Court has determined it can hear and decide on the case, but Venezuela put forward its sham referendum, asking its citizens to vote on the annexation of Essequibo before the Court can rule.
On Tuesday, Maduro revealed a redrawn of his country’s map to include the Essequibo region.
He also ordered the creation of new entities to grant licenses for oil, gas, and mine exploration in the Essequibo region; he proposed creating a new law to establish new environmentally protected areas centered on tourism and biodiversity.
In response, Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali said Guyana views this as an “imminent threat” to territorial integrity, noting that none of these actions will be accepted by the international community and assured Guyanese that the Government will do all it can to protect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
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