Topic: 2024-The Situation in Guyana
Country: Brazil
Delegate Name: Cailu Jiang
Topic: Situation in Guyana
Country: Federative Republic of Brazil
Delegate Name Cailu Jiang
Committee: Special Political Committee
School: Portage Central High School
In 2023 Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela held a referendum regarding the disputed Essequibo border to officially claim it as officially Venezuelan territory This dispute between the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has its origins regarding the Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1814. When the Dutch ceded Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice to the British Empire. However, the border was not clearly defined and the later British expedition in 1835 was quickly refuted by Venezuela. According to the Office of the Historian this was because of the Schomburgk Line, a boundary that effectively claimed an additional 30,000 square miles for Guiana. Venezuela’s officials disagreed and regarded that borders extended as far east as the Essequibo River. The situation could quickly escalate beyond the point of recognition and destabilize South American peace resulting foreign intervention.
The finding of gold and oil respectively in the 1840’s and 2015 further accelerated the speed of conflict. Especially during the 2015 oil discovery by ExxonMobil as Guiana’s oil holds are estimated to be 11 billion barrels of discovered oil estimated by both the Harvard International Review and the U.S Energy Information Administration (EIA). Although Venezuela had the territory originally claimed by them and finding such resources only worsened ties. Brazil’s current stance regards the sense that both parties have a mediated talk over the situation to have a compromise. Our stance is rather in neutrality as seen with Russia-Ukrainian and Israel-Palestine conflicts taking action relatively in diplomatic ties rather than direct support . However, we are also not hesitant to deploy troops. As currently we have both criticized Venezuela’s actions and deployed troops around Boa Vista. Additionally, Brazil will not allow any troop movement from our territory as the only road between Guyana and Venezuela is in Brazil.
Brazil seeks to cooperate with both Guyana and Venezuela on the situation about their dispute on the Essequibo border. Brazil also asks for other countries to also closely monitor the situation as not only the border dispute destabilizes South America, it also gives in a chance in foreign intervention. As regarding the Essequibo border conflict over these natural resources might guarantee foreign intervention such as how the United States of America interviewed during the Iraq-Kuwait war. As of now Brazil continues in favor of peaceful meditation regarding the border dispute as we do not want a war right on our doorstep within such a close range to the Brazilian mainland. However, if war were to come Brazil guarantees actions to de-scalate the conflict and collaboration with other countries to end the conflict. Nations of the world, Brazil advocates for collaboration and a mediation towards the Essequibo border dispute. It is absolutely critical for the diffusion of the situation in order to guarantee South American peace and to protect countries’ interests within the region.
Works Cited
https://brazilian.report/liveblog/politics-insider/2024/01/24/venezuela-guyana-talks-amid-border-tensions/
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/venezuela#:~:text=The%20Venezuelan%20Bound
https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/venezuela-guyana-dispute-and-brazils-foreign-policy-ambitions
