First off, Venezuela has never, EVER, owned any part of Guyana. Not a single square inch. Venezuela claimed the territory starting shortly after their own independence in 1824, but the claim was never, and will never be, legitimate. At the time of Venezuelan independence, Guyana had been under Dutch, and then British, rule and ownership for well over 200 years before Venezuela even existed to claim anything at all.
Venezuela attempted to base the claim as the "successor" to Spanish claims in the area, but the Spanish never had any claim on that territory, either. It was first under indigenous control, which gave way to Dutch control (starting in 1591), not Spanish, and the Spanish recognized Dutch claims in 1648. From there, the Dutch ceded control of the lands to the British in 1814, 10 years before the Spaniards lost control of Venezuela and Venezuela became independent. In 1899, an International Tribunal confirmed that the land was under British control as it had been since Britain formally received it from the Dutch in 1814, although the British assumed defacto control of Guyana in 1796, gaining treaty confirmation 18 years later.
So, Venezuela has NO legitimate claims on the area. This is a pure attempt at a land grab of someone else's lands, accelerated by the discovery of oil off the Guyana coast - 11 billion barrels of reserves. Venezuela wants to steal that oil from it's rightful owners, the people of Guyana, which is an independent state, and has been since gaining independence from Britain in 1966 and forming a legitimate independent republic government in 1970.
It's not, and never has been, Venezuela's land to claim. This claim is a bit like the Chinese claim to international waters and the territory of their neighbors in the South China Sea - it's just not legitimate, any way you try to cut it.
Since the US insists on involving themselves in a foreign war in Russia, backing a breakaway Russian province called the Ukraine... a war in which the US has no national interest nor any legitimate claim to the Ukrainian lands that seceded from Russia after the collapse of the USSR, how much more so should they come to the defense of Guyana? At least in Guyana we have an independent nation, one that has ALWAYS been independent of Venezuela, fighting for it's own survival and against forced "annexation" by a foreign invading power.
Furthermore, we can demonstrate a national interest in the fact that oil has been found in Guyana, in the western hemisphere, and it is in our own interests to be able to trade for that oil from an independent Guyana rather than having to go beg the Marxists in Venezuela for a trickle of it.
In other words, why would we involve ourselves in what is essentially a Russian civil war and ignore the legitimate needs of our OWN neighbors, in our OWN hemisphere?
The US should enter a pact with Brazil to defend the independence of Guyana, with the Brazilians securing the southern and western Guyana borders and the US securing the coastline... and allowing Guyana to continue the development of it's own resources securely. It;s much, MUCH more in our national interests, not to mention fighting on the side of right, to assist Guyana and trounce Venezuela than it is to meddle in internal Russian affairs.
I think it's too cute that Venezuela thinks they can just vote in Venezuelan "citizenship" and impose it on Guyanans. What if Guyana doesn't want any Venezuelan citizenship? and it's apparent the don't! That would be a bit like Mexico annexing the US just by voting US citizens as actually being Mexican citizens, without giving US citizens any say in the matter... and without the US ever having been any part of Mexico.
Just a pure diabolical land-grab.
I don't think that would fly very well, either...
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Venezuela attempted to base the claim as the "successor" to Spanish claims in the area, but the Spanish never had any claim on that territory, either. It was first under indigenous control, which gave way to Dutch control (starting in 1591), not Spanish, and the Spanish recognized Dutch claims in 1648. From there, the Dutch ceded control of the lands to the British in 1814, 10 years before the Spaniards lost control of Venezuela and Venezuela became independent. In 1899, an International Tribunal confirmed that the land was under British control as it had been since Britain formally received it from the Dutch in 1814, although the British assumed defacto control of Guyana in 1796, gaining treaty confirmation 18 years later.
So, Venezuela has NO legitimate claims on the area. This is a pure attempt at a land grab of someone else's lands, accelerated by the discovery of oil off the Guyana coast - 11 billion barrels of reserves. Venezuela wants to steal that oil from it's rightful owners, the people of Guyana, which is an independent state, and has been since gaining independence from Britain in 1966 and forming a legitimate independent republic government in 1970.
It's not, and never has been, Venezuela's land to claim. This claim is a bit like the Chinese claim to international waters and the territory of their neighbors in the South China Sea - it's just not legitimate, any way you try to cut it.
Since the US insists on involving themselves in a foreign war in Russia, backing a breakaway Russian province called the Ukraine... a war in which the US has no national interest nor any legitimate claim to the Ukrainian lands that seceded from Russia after the collapse of the USSR, how much more so should they come to the defense of Guyana? At least in Guyana we have an independent nation, one that has ALWAYS been independent of Venezuela, fighting for it's own survival and against forced "annexation" by a foreign invading power.
Furthermore, we can demonstrate a national interest in the fact that oil has been found in Guyana, in the western hemisphere, and it is in our own interests to be able to trade for that oil from an independent Guyana rather than having to go beg the Marxists in Venezuela for a trickle of it.
In other words, why would we involve ourselves in what is essentially a Russian civil war and ignore the legitimate needs of our OWN neighbors, in our OWN hemisphere?
The US should enter a pact with Brazil to defend the independence of Guyana, with the Brazilians securing the southern and western Guyana borders and the US securing the coastline... and allowing Guyana to continue the development of it's own resources securely. It;s much, MUCH more in our national interests, not to mention fighting on the side of right, to assist Guyana and trounce Venezuela than it is to meddle in internal Russian affairs.
I think it's too cute that Venezuela thinks they can just vote in Venezuelan "citizenship" and impose it on Guyanans. What if Guyana doesn't want any Venezuelan citizenship? and it's apparent the don't! That would be a bit like Mexico annexing the US just by voting US citizens as actually being Mexican citizens, without giving US citizens any say in the matter... and without the US ever having been any part of Mexico.
Just a pure diabolical land-grab.
I don't think that would fly very well, either...
.