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  • 5 months ago
Here’s a story that continues to make headlines, the impasse between this country and Venezuela.

We are joined by former director of the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies Dr Anthony Gonzales.

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Transcript
00:00welcome back to the TV6 news let's return to the story that continues to make headlines the impasse
00:06between this country and Venezuela well tonight we are joined by former director of the Institute
00:12of International Relations at the University of the West Indies dr. Anthony Gonzalez good
00:17evening dr. Gonzalez thank you for joining us yes thank you very much good evening to share
00:23us well many are suggesting the Prime Minister sent the wrong message to the Venezuelan president
00:29who along with his interior minister not just alleged terrorists were entering Venezuela from
00:35TNT but also said they will hunt them down wherever they are was she wrong well I don't think she was
00:44totally wrong I think that mr. Maduro should not have said that because that is a kind of a threat
00:54in a way to suggest that you will hunt down terrorists in Trinidad waters or in Trinidad is
01:02not something that it could be acceptable but on the other hand I think that this is a matter that
01:07should have been handled through some kind of diplomacy I think very early the Venezuelans
01:13should have provided more information and they should have contacted our ambassador or let their
01:20ambassador come and see us and in that sense we could have discussed the matter and come to some
01:26kind of agreement so it was not properly handled from the from the very start well Guyana and its
01:32essequibo conflict with Venezuela has tried diplomacy do you think diplomacy works with Venezuela well the
01:41guyana situation is a very different one in the sense that it's a historical dispute that has been
01:47around for quite a long time and they have been trying to solve it through negotiation and through
01:52international settlement in the International Court of Juris but Venezuela doesn't accept the
02:03International Court of Juris and Venezuela wants to settle it through bilateral negotiation so that this
02:10is a problem because Canada doesn't want to settle it through bilateral negotiation because it
02:16thinks that it is at a disadvantage and in that sense we have had no agreement since since this dispute
02:23started so I'm not sure that it's exactly the same but our relation with Venezuela are quite different our
02:31relations with Venezuela have been good ever since we became independent and we have seen Venezuela as a good
02:38neighbor and we have operated in such a way that we you know all fishermen go there we try to provide
02:46some kind of security for the Gulf of Paria we have to deal with a whole lot of problems in the Gulf of
02:51Paria and we try to you know discuss with them and settle these issues we are for cross-border gas in
02:58Venezuela that we are interested in so we have to keep talking to them so we try to keep on good terms with
03:03them irrespective of what the problems are so in that sense I think our situation is a bit different so the
03:10market could have been approaching up in a slightly different way in my view so we are seeing the
03:15United States stepping up as allies and the PM acknowledging she stands with the US in their
03:20position against the Maduro regime have we already chosen sides you think and what does that mean for
03:26us well yeah this is a very good question I would really like to know where exactly we stand because
03:33according my position is that we should not really be a proxy for the United States I believe that we
03:42have to be very careful here because the United States has its position and it's it has imposed
03:50sanctions on Venezuela but we have to look at what is in our interest we want to deal with Venezuela we
03:57have crossed border gas with Venezuela which we would like to do to obtain and we have to talk to
04:03the Venezuelans to really obtain this we don't have gas coming in the next 10 years from any other source
04:08but but Venezuela and the extent that we don't operate in some kind of understanding with Venezuela we
04:16will still lose out and let me say here that the United States could withdraw its companies from
04:22Venezuela and still find oil from Mexico or Canada we cannot find gas from any other source so that we
04:29have a serious disadvantage when those sanctions are imposed you know quite unlike other countries you can
04:34find alternatives and go elsewhere so my my position is that basically we have to see what is in our
04:41interest operate in a very unaligned and very neutral way and try to deal with both sides this is how we
04:48have this is what we have done over the years we are trying to be friends friends with both Venezuela
04:52and as well as the United States and in that way we try to preserve our interests so I don't see us
04:59having an alignment with the United States which goes against Venezuela and we can operate as some kind
05:05of proxy for the United States against Venezuela I don't I don't agree with that position is the concept of war
05:11far-fetched or is it a possible reality
05:17on this kind of far-fetched because we don't really have a conflict with Venezuela we do not have
05:23um um any kind of issue that is really dividing us to the point where under Guyana with you with you with you with you have
05:31a border dispute we do not have a any kind of controversy with Venezuela so that I don't see
05:37really why there is need for this kind of talk about about war so my my my position is that uh we
05:46have to be careful how we use the rhetoric I think what our problem is indulging a lot of
05:51shiver rattling and rhetoric and sometimes it's not in the interest of the of both countries we have to
05:58see ourselves as I said as neighbors and that um we need to get along and we need to solve problems
06:03together I think we both depend on it on one another and I think over the years it has worked
06:08pretty well and I see no reason why it cannot be same in the future are you surprised that St Vincent
06:16on the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonzalez while calling for the region to remain a zone of
06:21peace has like in the case of Guyana called on his Caricom partner to simmer down
06:26um I didn't understand like you said Caricom is a as a zone of peace and uh would like to see sorry
06:36are you surprised that are you surprised that the St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph
06:41Gonzalez while calling for the region to remain a zone of peace has like in the case of Guyana called
06:47on his Caricom partner to simmer down he has called on his Caricom partner to what you said simmer down to
06:56simmer down like are you surprised at um the intervention or the reaction of Dr Ralph Gonzalez
07:02I didn't hear his reaction um but I would think that he has taken a very good position in the past he
07:18has brought the parties together he's got them to sign an agreement not to go to war I'm talking about
07:23Guyana and Venezuela so in that sense I think he's a kind of mediator and he gets along very well with the
07:30authorities in Venezuela he has been a very good friend of the former president Chavez and um you
07:39know I think he can play a role in some kind of deviation so I'm not surprised at what he has done and
07:45what he has said well if can things continue as is how is this um debacle likely to end
07:52but I see us more or less as going back to to normal relations I don't think we're in a situation
08:00of conflict with Venezuela as I said there's no conflict um all I see already is us trying to
08:06negotiate and I saw for instance the day that the minister of foreign affairs um he had a meeting with
08:13the with the ambassador of Venezuela which should have taken place actually um some days ago from the
08:19very start and I think this is the way it should go I think you know it is in a vote of our interest
08:24that to talk to each other and to come to some common agreement we have to assure the Venezuelans
08:30that our territory would not be used as some kind of base against them I think this is a concern that
08:37they have and we should we should in a sense guarantee them that as you know historically Trinidad was
08:43used uh in the war of liberation right to to drive all the Spanish um there was uh uh a rebel group that
08:52came from Trinidad that joined up with Bolivar that fought against uh fought against uh the Spanish and
08:58historically the Venezuelans have always seen Trinidad as some kind of base of of insurrection so that is
09:05the area they are concerned they are somewhat worried that you know rebels could use the country or some foreign
09:12government could use the country against them and so forth and we have to assure them that this is
09:16not will not take place I think until they can give them that assurance you will have these kind of
09:21exchanges going on but as I said it's not really a problem that cannot be solved I think we can put
09:26it up and talk about it and settle it well thank you very much uh Dr. Gonzalez for joining us tonight
09:31to share your expert perspective on this developing story yeah thank you very much yes no problem
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