Venezuela dubs Beal launch deal "unfriendly"
CARACAS, CANA-Reuters - Venezuela yesterday escalated a diplomatic rift with Guyana, branding as "unfriendly" the granting of a concession for a commercial rocket-launch site in an area subject to a long-standing territorial dispute. The South American neighbours have been at odds for decades over the sparsely populated Essequibo, a 61,500-square mile (159,000-sq km) mineral-rich area the size of Florida. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel expressed his "firm protest" over the space centre deal signed earlier this month with a Texas-based private company. In a letter sent to his Guyanese counterpart Clement Rohee and published by the ministry, Rangel "rejected this unfriendly act, which hampers a practical and satisfactory solution to the territorial dispute between our two countries." Dallas-based Beal Aerospace Technology Inc plans to initially invest at least $100 million in construction of the site and does not anticipate to launch a rocket from Guyana for another three or four years. Rangel said he hoped Guyana would "review its policy of concessions in the disputed area", which covers about 75 per cent of the territory of Guyana, a former British colony. He asked Rohee to agree to a meeting as soon as possible to discuss an issue which the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry first mentioned last week when it deplored the Beal deal. Beal Aerospace Vice President David Spoede told Reuters last week that his company was "very concerned and would have preferred to locate the facility in an undisputed territory". He explained the Essequibo location was chosen because of Guyana's sparse population and its proximity to the equator, allowing rockets to send heavier payloads into space. Paris-based Arianespace launches its Ariana rocket series from the European Space Agency Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, a territory that borders Guyana's eastern neighbour, Suriname. Venezuela's claim on Essequibo, probably the last major territorial dispute in the Americas, is rooted in 19th century colonial history but was revived last year by President Hugo Chavez's left-wing and fiercely nationalist government.
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