Venezuela has challenged the legality of Guyana’s western boundary and has laid claim to the western two-thirds of that country. In 1966 the governments began a four-year study of the controversy. When no solution was reached, the countries in 1970 agreed to suspend attempts at settlement for twelve years.
This monograph, which briefly presents the historical background, gives a detailed and interpretative account of the dispute in both countries since 1966. The author’s comments on the recent political and economic activities within both countries provide valuable insight into the controversy.
The author discounts the Venezuelan historical arguments as “essentially peripheral,” and states “Today’s Venezuelan simply resents the fact that North Americans rather than native sons were empowered to make the crucial decisions.” Such an oversimplification represents the typical Anglo-world attitude toward the Venezuelan arguments in the long history of the boundary dispute.
