A question for our enlightened readers

I’ve been mulling a post about Venezuela’s centuries-old claim on the lands west of the Essequibo river. But I have a confession to make: the whole topic bores...

I’ve been mulling a post about Venezuela’s centuries-old claim on the lands west of the Essequibo river. But I have a confession to make: the whole topic bores me.

Yes, we were probably robbed. Yes, subsequent actions by various governments probably didn’t help our cause. And yes, chavistas are probably turning a blind eye in favor of maintaining Hugo Chávez’s geopolitical strength in the Caribbean basin.

But the underlying question is this: do we have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting that territory back? And if we do, why don’t we simply go to The Hague and solve this once and for all?

The way I see it from my terribly ill-informed perspective is that this is like a fight between neighbors. If you think your neighbor has illegally moved his fence you talk to him. You bring others and try to convince him. You talk to his relatives. Hell, you might even threaten him. But if months go by and the fence is still there, you either go ahead and move it back, or you go to Court.

Since Venezuelans have long ago decided that invading Guyana might not be such a good idea, the only option that remains is going to The Hague.

Isn’t that what everyone else does? Why are we not there yet?

I’m sorry, but chest-thumping denunciations of acquiescence to Guyanese imperialism, or screaming to the high heavens about the British Empire screwing us over… well, that stuff just bores me to tears.

Enough already. A nation of grownups doesn’t go around painting cute little stripes over its neighbor’s territories. Either it’s ours and we use all the weapons at our disposal to get it back, or it isn’t, in which case we give the whole thing up and focus on the territory that we do have. It’s not the lack of resources that’s holding back our development anyway.

Call me an apátrida, but the whole stalemate is simply childish. Solve it once and for all, and move on.