The dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, said this Thursday (14) that he hopes to “make the most of” his meeting with the president of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, in statements to the press upon arrival in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, where both leaders will discuss the territorial dispute between their countries.
Maduro “celebrated” the fact that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) and Brazil promoted the meeting, which he hopes to “make the most of so that the Latin American and Caribbean area continues to be a zone of peace ”, as he declared to the Venezuelan state broadcaster VTV at Argyle International Airport.
“I come with a mandate from the people of Venezuela, a word of dialogue, a word of peace, but to defend the rights of the people, of our homeland”, said the leader of the Chavista regime.
Furthermore, Maduro reiterated that his objective in this first conversation with Ali is “to seek, through dialogue and negotiation, practical, effective and satisfactory solutions, as determined by the Geneva Agreement”, a document signed in 1966 and which Venezuela recognizes as the only legitimate legal instrument to resolve the dispute.
A VTV further reported that Ali is already in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, where Caribbean leaders and a representative of the United Nations (UN) also attended to support these talks, the first since Venezuela unilaterally approved in a referendum the annexation of the disputed area , under the control of Georgetown.
The meeting, which aims to contain tension and avoid individual actions, was proposed by several countries in the region, especially by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who sent the special advisor to the Presidency of the Republic, Celso Amorim, to the meeting.
Despite the mediators' intention to seek an agreement, Ali stated earlier this week that the objective of the meeting is to reduce tension, but not negotiate on the land border, while Maduro highlighted that he hopes it will be a “starting point for the return of negotiations”, while continuing with unilateral plans for Essequibo, albeit with a milder tone.
#Maduro #meeting #Guyana #territorial #dispute