The Dec. 14 meeting between the Presidents of Guyana and Venezuela, Irfan Ali and Nicolás Maduro, was the result of multiple efforts by their neighbors in the Ibero-American and Caribbean region. The meeting is to take place in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, whose Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves is the current head of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (CELAC). Gonsalves will chair the meeting, and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will be present as an “observer.”
It will not be an easy meeting, nor was it easy for the two heads of state to even agree to hold it. President Lula got the ball rolling by organizing the statement, issued from the Dec. 7 Mercosur Summit, but signed by 9 of the 12 South American nations (minus the 2 contending parties and Surinam), which insisted on the principle that “Latin America must be a territory of peace, and in this case work with the tools of its long tradition of dialogue.”
The heads of state of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) weighed in likewise, after a virtual caucus Dec. 8 to discuss the dangerous situation developing around the border conflict. The short statement issued from that meeting declared that CARICOM “firmly supports” Guyana’s position in the crisis, but was insistent also that the Caribbean must be “a Zone of Peace and the maintenance of international law. Accordingly, CARICOM calls for a de-escalation of the conflict and for appropriate dialogue between the leaders of Venezuela and Guyana to ensure peaceful coexistence, the application and respect for international law and the avoidance of the use or threats of force.”
