THE EDITOR: The President of Guyana defiantly declared, at the conclusion of his recent meeting with the Venezuelan President, that there has been, and will be, no retreat from Guyana's firm political and legal position that the territorial dispute concerning Essequibo will be resolved/has already been resolved, by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

In fact, the first implication of the joint declaration from St Vincent and the Grenadines is that Guyana has implicitly retreated from that position and will now be increasingly compelled to accept the legal status of Essequibo as a disputed territory. The implication of the joint declaration is that the ICJ will henceforth have no direct role to play in the resolution of the dispute.

I write to express my happiness with this positive development which sidelines a court whose double standards and indifferent profile for justice is now exposed in its shameful silence while genocide is taking place in broad daylight in Gaza.

The second happy implication of the joint declaration, an implication which will resonate positively for many moons to come, is that "gunboat diplomacy" has now been effectively excluded from all matters connected with the territorial dispute. This is the implication of the agreement that 'Guyana and Venezuela, directly or indirectly, will not threaten or use force against one another in any circumstances, including those consequential to any existing controversies between the two states.'

The US Armed Forces cannot be used, now or at any time in the future, to restrain, intimidate or expel any Venezuelans, whether they be oil companies or otherwise, from the territory of Essequibo.

Venezuela must be complemented for her brilliant diplomacy.

IMRAN N HOSEIN

inhosein@imranhosein.org

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