The National Assembly [AN, parlamento] of Venezuela, where Chavismo has a majority, approved this Wednesday, in the first of two debates, the Law for the Defense of the state of Guyana Esequiba, a territory in dispute with neighboring Guyana.
The approval came about as a matter of parliamentary urgency and also includes the use of a new political map of the country, which will include the state of Guyana Esequiba and the holding of future elections to designate local authorities, including representatives of the Venezuelan parliament.
According to the president of the National Policy Commission of the AN, the new law, composed of 22 articles that also include “the non-recognition of the arbitration decision of 1899”, which establishes the country’s border with Guyana, and the defense of the Agreement of Geneva of 1966 as the only valid instrument to peacefully resolve the territorial conflict.
Also the creation of the state of Guayana Esequiba in the field of political-territorial organization, with its own and independent heritage, and the establishment of new geographical limits, to the north, by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south, by Brazil, to the east, by the Essequibo River and to the west, by the states of Delta Amacuro and Bolívar.
The new law establishes transitional provisions that establish that until elections are held, local authority will be exercised by a citizen appointed by President Nicolás Maduro.
Guyana Esequiba will have representation in the parliament elected in popular elections and until then said representation will be assumed by the National Assembly.
During the debate, the president of the Special Commission for the Defense of Essequibo, Hermann Escarrá, highlighted the importance of not recognizing the International Court of Justice in the territorial dispute.
According to the speaker of parliament, the new law should be approved within a week.
President Nicolás Maduro made several announcements related to Essequibo this Monday, during a Federal Government Council (CFG), in which the Council of State and the National Defense Council (CDF) participated.
Maduro announced the creation of a broad National High Commission for the Defense of Essequibo, which will be integrated, among others, by the CDF, the CFG, the National Security Council, the political, religious and academic sectors of the country and instructed the parliament to move forward with the Organic Law for the Creation of Guyana Esequiba, in the disputed territory.
Also the creation of the Guyana Esequiba Comprehensive Defense Zone [REDI] which will have three areas and 28 sectors of comprehensive development, dependent militarily and administratively on the REDI of the Venezuelan state of Guyana. [sudeste do país].
Maduro designated the Major General of the Venezuelan Army, Alexis Rodríguez Cabello, as the Sole Authority for the territory of Essequibo.
The President of Venezuela ordered the state companies Petróleos da Venezuela SA (PDVSA) and the Venezuelan Corporation of Guayana (CVG) to create the PDVSA Essequibo and CVG Esequibo divisions, to grant operating licenses for the extraction and exploration of oil, gas and minerals.
On the other hand, he ordered the immediate publication of a new complete map of Venezuela, which will include the territory, but without the indication of “claimed area” and authorized the activation of a Social Care Plan for the local population, which will include a census, the granting of Venezuelan nationality and the delivery of identity cards to the population of that region.
Maduro also proposed the creation of a “special law” that would give companies a period of “three months” to cease operations in undelimited waters claimed by Venezuela.
The Essequibo region, which appears on Venezuelan maps as an “area under claim”, has been under UN mediation since 1966, when the Geneva Agreement was signed.
With an area of 160 thousand square kilometers and rich in minerals, Essequibo is under the administration of Guyana, based on a document signed in Paris in 1899, which establishes territorial limits that Venezuela does not accept.
Source: TSF
