The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduroand that of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, This Thursday they expressed their willingness to continue with the dialogue to try to overcome the dispute that both countries have the Essequiboa 160,000 square kilometer oil-rich territory managed by Georgetown and Caracas claims as his own.
The announcement came shortly after both leaders met in Kingstown, capital of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, after the meeting that was promoted by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), the Caribbean Community (Caricom), with the support of Brazil, to reduce tensions and avoid regional escalation.
In fact, Celso Amorin, the Brazilian representative for this dialogue, confirmed to reporters that the agreements included scheduling a new meeting between the parties.
However, the unprecedented meeting betweene Maduro and Ali ewas marked by differences in positions. The Guyanese president He told the press that during the meeting he defended his “sovereign right” to his Venezuelan counterpart to grant licenses for the oil exploitation in Essequibosomething that Venezuela criticizes.
Ali explained “clearly” that the territorial dispute will have a “binding” solution in the international Court of Justice (ICJ), whose jurisdiction is rejected by Venezuela.
“I made it very clear that Guyana has every right to exercise its sovereign right within its territorial space and to approve and facilitate any development, investment, partnership, agreement, collaboration, cooperation, granting of any license and the granting of any concession within our territorial space,” he told reporters.
The Venezuelan government, for the moment, has not yet issued any statement following the meeting. However, before, Maduro stressed that he came to the meeting “with a mandate from the people of Venezuela, with a word of dialogue, with a word of peace, but to defend our rights.”
While the Venezuelan Minister of Communication, Freddy Ñáñez, reported in a brief message that he published on the social network X (formerly Twitter), where he shared a video that shows both leaders shaking hands.
The Communication portfolio pointed out that in the “successful bilateral meeting” it was demonstrated that “the only way to resolve the territorial controversy is dialogue, with understanding and respect, free of interventionist intervention, prioritizing the well-being” of the region.
I clarified very
Although Guyana has every right to exercise its sovereign right within its territorial space (…) and grant any license
Although the dispute over the Essequibo is a centuries-old dispute, the dispute intensified in 2015 after the American oil company ExxonMobil discovered large deposits of crude oil in the area under claim.
Furthermore, the subsequent consultative referendum that promoted Ripe On December 3, in which it was approved to create a province of Venezuela in the region and give nationality to its inhabitants, tensions were revived.
The moves were seen by the international community as an expansionist move by Maduro to mobilize his bases within Venezuela and seek to tighten himself in power ahead of the 2024 elections.
For analysts, it was already expected that this meeting was not going to produce great results, beyond agreeing on mechanisms to reduce tensions “and continue with the dialogue.” It is feasible that “they will say that they are going to continue talking to lower tensions,” Sadio Garavini di Turno, former Venezuelan ambassador to Guyana, told the AFP agency.
Finally, Cuban sources confirmed yesterday to the Efe agency that the Government of Cuba, in addition to Brazil, also mediated this dialogue. According to that medium, the Cuban Government has been promoting contacts between Caracas and Georgetown for “several months.” The island, these sources added, “led” the efforts to arrange a meeting between the presidents of both countries.
For its part, the Colombian government also had its share. According to a statement, the Foreign Minister of Colombia, Álvaro Leyva, traveled to Kingstown, where he was received by authorities from San Vicente. Leyva participated in the meeting that was held together with Caricom leaders.
ANA MARÍA RODRÍGUEZ BRAZÓN
TIME CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS
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