Guyana Government Confirms Arrest Of Crew Members By Venezuela Frigate

GEORGETOWN, Guyana CMC – The Guyana government Friday, confirmed that the crew of a vessel conducting a multi-beam survey of the seafloor in the country’s exclusive economic zone had been arrested by Venezuela.

A government statement described the incident, which occurred late on Thursday as “unprecedented in Guyana-Venezuela relations”.

It insists that the seismic vessel, the RV Teknik Perdana, was in “Guyana’s waters when this regrettable incident took place.

“In fact, Guyana has been exercising jurisdiction over the said area ever since the extension of the jurisdiction of coastal States was established under international law. This was in fact made clearer after the passage of the Maritime Boundaries Act of 1977.

“The second point is that the Venezuelan Navy vessel acted in contravention of the laws of Guyana and indeed international law when it entered Guyana’s waters and sought to intimidate the crew of the vessel and later ordered that vessel out of Guyana’s waters and escorted the vessel and crew to Venezuela.”

Guyana said it has expressed to the Venezuela government “its grave concern about the incident involving the RV Teknik Perdana.

“Guyana intends to employ all peaceful means to facilitate a return to the status quo ante since neither the Venezuelan frigate, the agents of Venezuela, its Government nor any other State has the authority to exercise any action in Guyana’s territorial waters, its continental shelf or its exclusive economic zone without its express consent.”

According to the Guyana government, the Venezuelan Navy frigate, the “Yakuna” had been trailing the seismic vessel, which has a contract with Anadarko, a United States-based oil and gas exploration company.

“The frigate obstructed the research vessel’s passage, requested them to change course and stop surveying. As is known, Anadarko has a petroleum prospecting licence to search for hydrocarbons in the Roraima block offshore Guyana.”

The government said that the crew of the RV Teknik Perdana explained to the crew of the Venezuelan frigate that they were conducting a multi-beam survey of the seafloor in Guyana’s exclusive economic zone.

“The Venezuelan crew aboard the frigate insisted that the vessel was doing such work in Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone and instructed that the vessel switch off its engines and shut down its seismic equipment. “

The government statement said late on Thursday night, the crew of the RV Teknik Perdana was instructed to increase speed to seven knots and was given directions to sail to the island of Margarita in Venezuela.

“It was then clear that the vessel and its crew were not only being escorted out of Guyana’s waters, but were under arrest. These actions by the Venezuelan frigate are unprecedented in Guyana Venezuela relations.”

The Donald Ramotar government said it is “of the firm belief that the actions taken by the Venezuelan navy vessel constitute a serious threat to the peace of this sub-region and the Government of Guyana therefore strongly condemns the actions taken by the Venezuelan frigate.

“Guyana believes in the peaceful resolution of disagreements amongst States. It is for that reason that Guyana maintains that since the RV Teknik Perdana was merely collecting seismic data, and it will be some time before actual exploration for hydrocarbons could take place, there was and is ample time for Guyana and Venezuela to discuss any differences of view that may exist in relation to the provisional maritime boundary between the two States.

“Guyana however maintains that the application of the principles of international maritime delimitation will vindicate its position that the RV Teknik Perdana was well within its maritime boundary when it was illegally evicted by the Venezuelan frigate. Indeed so is the Roraima concession block,” the statement said, adding that Georgetown is “committed to working with the Venezuelan Government to find a diplomatic solution to this problem which has arisen”.

Meanwhile, the main opposition grouping, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), has criticized Venezuela on the incident,

“APNU condemns the Venezuelan actions and expresses its unqualified support for a strong response by the Government of Guyana to safeguard this country’s territorial integrity,” the APNU said in a statement.

“APNU believes that the actions of the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela constitute a threat to international peace,” the party said, calling on Venezuela to fulfill its obligations under Article 33 – for the “Pacific Settlement of Disputes” – of the Charter of the United Nations and to desist from resorting to armed force in its relations with the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.