On Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro demanded that the United Kingdom authorities "take their hands off" Latin America and rejected the visit to Guyana of David Rutley (who?), the British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Americas and Caribbean. That is the custom of those ancient empires. They believe they are owners of their former colonies. They were the ones who fraudulently robbed and dispossessed Venezuela of our Guayana Esequiba," he said during the TV program "With Maduro +." "The DECADENT British empire, defunct as it is, puts its DIRTY hands into a matter that does NOT concern it," the Bolivarian leader emphasized. Maduro also reiterated his intention to recover Guayana Esequiba, the territory of almost 160,000 square kilometers in dispute with Guyana.
Don't know about Elign marbles but I've got a queensize oily and a few chinas he can have if he pays the postage.
Hugo Chavez drew a line under the claim years ago, saying he considered the issue settled under advisement of a favorite of Clive's, Fidel Castro. Then years later, Guyana finds oil deposits in the area and suddenly Maduro is interested in reigniting the issue. I wonder why? The issue will hit the ICJ next year, Venezuela will almost certainly lose (as in all previous court cases), and then hopefully Maduro will shut up about it. But probably not, because he wants the oil.
Declassified UK published an article revealing that attempts to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro may be linked to the interests of British, American, and French companies seeking control over the petroleum resources in the Essequibo region. Specifically, journalist Molly Antigone Hall's investigation disclosed that Barnaby Swire, a British entrepreneur who secured an oil offshore contract from the Guyanese government, donated substantial sums to the Conservative Party. Declassified UK also found that Tullow Oil, which operates in the Essequibo maritime zone, is chaired by Dorothy Thompson, a non-executive director of the Bank of England Tribunal. Despite its purported independence from political pressures, this financial institution withheld £800 million in international reserves belonging to the Bolivarian nation. "The UK has vested interests in how the dispute proceeds and seems to be leveraging its influence to ensure Guyana retains jurisdiction over the area. Venezuelan control would likely result in a less favorable stance towards British companies," noted Hall.
The Swire Group was started by John Swire (1787–1847) in 1816. It began in Liverpool as an import-export company based mainly on the textile trade. Then his son was John Samuel Swire (1825-1898). He inherited the business aged 22 in 1847 and expanded into the cotton and sugar trade with China. He formed what many described as a 'Cartel' of steamship owners involved in routes from China and Japan to Britain. They rewarded shippers that gave all their business to ships owned by conference members through a system of deferred rebates to the freight rates charged. The conference survived a legal challenge in 1885, which went to the High Court in 1887, then through the Court of Appeal and ultimately to the House of Lords. In 1870, like so many scousers before him, John left Liverpool and opened an office in London. He must have been doing very well, because his 'seat' became Hubbards Hall in Harlow, Essex. Next up was John Kidston "Jock" Swire (1893–1983). He went to Eton and Oxford and was chair of the group from 1946 to 1966. He had four kids Bridget who died in 2009, Sir John (Eton and Oxford) who died in 2016, Sir Adrian (Eton and Oxford) who died in 2018 and Gillian who is seemingly still going. She married the Honourable Julian Fane, the son of the 14th Earl of Westmorland. Jocky was chairman from 1966 to 1987. He became a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1977.[3] He was an Honorary Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford in 1987 and received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Hong Kong in 1989.[3] He was knighted in the 1990 New Year Honours. Sir Adrian married Lady Judith Compton and they popped out at least two sons. Barnaby (surely to be Sir very soon) who was educated at Eton and Oxford and Merlin Bingham (honestly) who by coincidence was also educated at Eton and Oxford. Barney is chair of the Swire Group and Merley is chair of Swire Pacific. Cheers Merlin!! The Swires are "significant" donors to the Conservative Party. In April 2015 their net worth was estimated at £5 billion. They are only the 27th richest family in the country though. So not doing that well.
