The United States notified Venezuela this Monday that cannot resolve its territorial dispute with Guyana over the Essequibo with a referendum and urged him to respect the current borders until there is a definitive agreement.
(You can read: What comes after the Venezuelan referendum to annex an area in dispute with Guyana?)
“We ask Venezuela and Guyana to continue seeking a peaceful solution to their dispute. This is not something that can be resolved through a referendum,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a press conference.
Miller explained that Joe Biden’s Administration supports respecting the border established in 1899 between the two South American countries “as long as there is no agreement between the two parties or a competent body decides so.”
In a referendum marked by low participation, the majority of Venezuelan voters chose on Sunday to annex Essequibo to Venezuela, a territory of almost 160,000 square kilometers in dispute with Guyana.
(Also: Venezuela: Nicolás Maduro’s call to vote for Essequibo had little participation)
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, said this Monday on social networks that The nation has begun a “new historical stage to fight” for the Essequibo and “manage to recover” the territory that “the liberators left behind”, although it has not detailed the actions that will be taken to achieve this..
Venezuela claims sovereignty over Guyana over this area that represents two-thirds of the current Guyanese territory, whose territorial waters are rich in oil and which has deposits of coal, precious stones and is an important reserve of flora and fauna.
(You can read: The crossroads due to political disqualifications in Venezuela: trap for the opposition?)
The differences over the border limits began with the Paris Arbitration Award of October 3, 1899, which gave sovereignty of the territory to the then British Guyana.
The resolution was denounced by Venezuela before the UN in 1962 and, since then, despite the agreement to seek a negotiated solution reached in 1966, the litigation has continued, with some incidents included.
EFE
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