“…If they succeed, that will mean that any country can one day decide to repudiate century old borders on the basis of spurious claims,” Jagdeo added.
The Guyanese Vice President took jabs at Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez who he said has been the bulldog in spreading lies surrounding the controversy.
Among those lies are that the borders between Guyana and Venezuela was never settled and that the 1899 arbitral award is void.
To this end, he said Guyanese must be careful not to spread those every lies being told by the Venezuelan authorities.
“Sometimes we spread their rumours more than trying to fight off the lies… spreading the rumors have created a lot of unease… many people are worried.
“In another part of the media we had to fight off another rumor… they said people are fleeing from Region One… we check the number of aircraft, it is the same.
“One guy said the ferry is overbooked… the ferry is always overbooked,” the VP pointed out.
Jagdeo reassured citizens that Guyana has the support of the world and all are waiting to see the juridical process at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to conclusion. He said too that Guyana has strong diplomatic and military support.
“When this border is settled and it will be settled by the International Court of Justice… we are prepared to talk on any other matter except that one issue because for long, the bilateral approach has not yielded results… we still have to live as neighbours,” Jagdeo told Guyanese.
He closed his presentation with a reassurance that Guyana is not warmongering or belligerent but said Venezuela cannot be trusted.
“They say they don’t want to do anything but we can’t trust them given the rhetoric coming from there.”
The border controversy is squarely before the World Court and Guyana hopes for a final, binding settlement that reaffirms the 1899 Arbitral Award that established the existing boundary between itself and Venezuela.
Essentially, Guyana wants the court to reaffirm that the Essequibo region is its own.
Jagdeo said Guyana is open to dialogue with Venezuela but there will be no stopping of the process before the ICJ.