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The Venezuela-Guyana Boundary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2009

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Extract

One of the attractions of history and its enigmatic lessons consists in the fact, that, from age to age, nothing changes much, yet everything is different. On August 18, 1962, the Venezuelan Government requested the inclusion on the Agenda of the Seventeenth Session of the United Nations General Assembly of the item, “Question of boundaries between Venezuela and the territory of British Guyana”. Historians and international lawyers had presumed that this particular international dispute had long been settled and become a memory faded, though still fragrant, in international law case and textbooks.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © T.M.C. Asser Press 1968

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References

1 United Nations— “A Basic History of the Organization 1945–1963”, 7th edition, 1964, p. 180.Google Scholar

2 At the Fourth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Continent, 1951, and at the Tenth Inter-American Conference, 1954.

3 Norwood, V. G. C., “Man Alone-Adventures in the Jungles of British Guyana (London: Boardman & Co., 1956)Google Scholar description in detail of a long journey in that region.

4 Jagan, Cheddi, “Forbidden Freedom: The Story of British Guiana” (1954).Google Scholar

5 Van Gravesande, Storm, “The Rise of British Guyana”. Compiled by Harris, C. A. and de Villiers, J. A. J., Vol. I (London: Hakluyt Society, 1911).Google Scholar

6 Ancel, J., “Les Frontieres”, Récueil des Cours, I., 1936, p. 207.Google Scholar

7 Rivero, T. R., “Litigo Fronterizo con la Gran Bretaña (Caracas, 1964)Google Scholar; Nuñez, E. B.Tres Momentos en la Contraversia de limites de Guyana” (Caracas: Editorial Elite, 1945).Google Scholar

8 Cleveland, Grover, “The Venezuela Boundary Controversy” (Princeton, 1913)Google Scholar; Perkins, D., “The Monroe Doctrine 1867–1907 (1937)Google Scholar; Whitaker, A. P., “The U.S. and South America—The Northern Republics” (1948)Google Scholar; Matthews, J. J., “Diplomacy in the Venezuelan Crisis of 1896Missippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 50, 09 1963, pp. 195212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9 “The British Guyana Boundary Arbitration”, British and Foreign State Papers, 1904, Vol. 99Google Scholar. “La Cuestion de Limites entre Venezuela y la Guayana Britanica” Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Caracas, Venezuela, 1962.Google Scholar

10 British Command Papers 9501, (1899) p. 720725.Google Scholar

11 Command, 9336–7, (1899), p. 133, 199.Google Scholar

12 Brierly, J. L., “The Law of Nations”, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 1961) p. 169Google Scholar; O'Connel, D. P.International Law” (London: Stevens and Sons) 1965, p. 477.Google Scholar

13 SirSchomburgk, Robert Hermann (18041865)Google Scholar, German born British explorer and geographer. In 1841 the British government commissioned him to survey and delineate the colony's “true boundary”. The resulting “Schomburgk line “extended to the west all the way to Orinoco and played a prominent part in the boundary dispute. See his books, “British Guyana” (1845)Google Scholar, “Journals of Voyages” (1848).Google Scholar

14 Severo Mallet-Prevost, an American international lawyer, was one of the counsels for Venezuela before the Arbitral Tribunal. His Memorandum written forty-five years later was published after his death by his associate Schoenrich, Otto, “The Venezuela-British Guyana Boundary Dispute”, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 43, No. 3, 07, 1949.Google Scholar

15 See particularly the rebuttal by Childs, Clifton J., “The British Guyana Boundary ArbitrationXLIX, 1950Google Scholar; as well as Dennis, S.The Venezuelan-British Guiana Boundary Arbitration 1899XLIV, 1950.Google Scholar

16 United Nations, General Assembly 17th Session, Special Political Committee, A/SPC/71, 11 12, 1962.Google Scholar

17 Briceño, Marcos Falcon, “La Cuestion de limites entre Venezuela y la Guayana Britanica”Google Scholar, Exposicion del Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores en las Naciones Unidas, Ministerio de Relationes Exteriores, Caracas, Venezuela, 1962.

18 Statement by Sir Colin T. Crowe, UK representative at the 349th Meeting of the Special Political Committee, November 13, 1962 A/SPC/72.

19 The New York Times, 11 16, 1962Google Scholar, Times, London, November 16, 1962.

20 Official Communiqué, 11 7, 1963Google Scholar, “Reclamacion de la Guyana Esquiba-Documentos 1962–1966” Ministeriode Relacions Exteriores, Caracas 1967, p. 21.Google Scholar

21 British Information Services, New York, 02 18, 1966Google Scholar (Official text by cable).

22 Article 1 paragraph 2 of the Guyana Constitution specifies the territory of the state as those included in the old Colony of British Guyana.

23 El Universal and El Nacional, Caracas. 05 28, 1966Google Scholar; June 2, 1966; and Sept. 15, 1966.

24 Venezuelan, , op. cit. “Documentos”, p. 18.Google Scholar

25 Nussbaum, Arthur, “A Concise History of the Law of Nations”, revised edition, (New York: MacMillen 1962) p. 219.Google Scholar Also, Nussbaum, , “Frederic de Martens. Representative Tsarist writer on International LawNordisk Tidsskrift XXII 1952/1958.Google Scholar

26 The New York Times, 11 13, 1962.Google Scholar