EL ARBITRAJE DE LA CUESTIÓN DE LÍMITES ENTRE VENEZUELA Y LA GUAYANA BRITÁNICA: DE LA AUSENCIA DE ESPAÑA AL CONTROVERTIDO LAUDO MARTENS.

During their foundation, Spanish-American republics faced the problem of defining their borders in a precise manner. Remission to the Spanish Monarchy’s territorial divisions proved insufficient because they were imprecisely defined, according to modern standards. In resolving these territorial conflicts, Spain was in a favorable position to influence their outcomes and did so on some occasions. Yet the 1899 Paris Award that decided on the sovereignty of the almost 160.000 km² between Venezuela and the United Kingdom’s British Guyana was one of the few arbitrated by the United States, and one of the most controversial. The twofold purpose of this paper is to inquire the reasons behind Spain’s approach shift, and to assess the plausibility of the criticisms levelled against the Award. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]