The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela are expected to meet in person as the regional partners urgently seek to defuse a long-running territorial dispute that has escalated after Venezuelans voted in a referendum to claim two-thirds of their small neighbor
December 14, 2023, 12:01 AM ET
• 3 min reading
GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela headed to a tense meeting Thursday as the regional nations sought to defuse a long-running territorial dispute that escalated when Venezuelans voted in a referendum to split two to claim a third of its smaller neighbor.
At the urging of regional partners, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro agreed to meet at Argyle International Airport on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent. The prime ministers of Barbados, Dominica and Trinidad and Tobago said they would also attend.
The aim of the meeting is to ease tensions that have arisen over Essequibo, a vast border region rich in oil and minerals that accounts for much of Guyana's territory but which Venezuela claims as its own.
The Venezuelan president followed the referendum and ordered his state-owned companies to explore and exploit oil, gas and mines in Essequibo. And both sides have put their militaries on alert.
It was unclear whether the meeting would lead to an agreement or even defuse the border controversy.
Guyana's president has repeatedly stated that the dispute must be resolved exclusively by the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands.
“We stand firm on this matter and will not be open for discussion,” Ali wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.
Venezuela insists that the Essequibo region was part of its territory during the Spanish colonial period and argues that the 1966 Geneva agreement between its country, Britain and Guyana, the former colony of British Guiana, abolished the border drawn by international arbitrators in 1899 .
In a letter sent to St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves on Tuesday, Guyana's president said the Geneva Convention stipulates that the International Court of Justice should settle all border disputes.
Ali also said he was concerned about what he called “inaccurate allegations” in Maduro's own letter to Gonsalves.
He refuted Maduro's description of the oil concessions granted by Guyana as “in a maritime area that has yet to be demarcated.” Ali said all oil blocks “are well within Guyana’s waters under international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.” .”
Ali also rejected what he said was Maduro's “interference in the United States Southern Command, which has begun operations in the disputed area.”
The U.S. Southern Command has been conducting air operations inside Guyana in recent days.
“Any allegation that a military operation against Venezuela is taking place in any part of the territory of Guyana is false, misleading and provocative,” Ali said in his letter to Gonsalves.
Maduro's letter to Gonsalves repeats Venezuela's claim that the border drawn in 1899 was “the result of a plan” between the United States and the United Kingdom. It also said the dispute “must be resolved amicably on a matter acceptable to both parties.”
Maduro also pointed to the Dec. 3 referendum on Venezuela claiming ownership of Essequibo, which has vast oil deposits off its coast.
The meeting between the two leaders was expected to last a day, although many expect the disagreement to drag on into next year.
____
Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america