The presidents of Venezuela and Guyana pledged after direct talks on Thursday not to resort to force to settle a long-simmering and recently reheated territorial dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region, a joint statement said.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali shook hands after a two-hour meeting on the Caribbean island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The two sides agreed that they “will not threaten or use force against one another in any circumstances,” the statement said.
Photo: AFP / VENEZUELAN PRESIDENCY / MARCELO GARCIA
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves read the three-page statement, which included measures to ensure that tensions on the ground do not escalate suddenly.
However, neither Venezuela nor Guyana agreed on the proper global jurisdiction to settle the territorial dispute over Essequibo, which makes up about two-thirds of Guyana’s territory.
Maduro, who has sought to rally support in his nation with the territorial claims, cast the summit as a triumph.
“Excellent day of dialogue!” Maduro wrote on X. “We did it!”
The two sides pledged to resolve the dispute “in accordance with international law,” but added that while Guyana believes the International Court of Justice is the proper jurisdiction for the matter, Venezuela has rejected the body’s recognition over the issue.
Gonsalves said that Georgetown and Caracas are “committed to the pursuance of good neighborliness, peaceful coexistence and the unity of Latin America and the Caribbean.”
The statement said that the two leaders agreed to meet again within three months in Brazil, with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tapped as an interlocutor in the dispute.
Guyana’s president left the summit declaring that his nation will not cede its sovereignty over the region’s oil fields.
“Guyana has all the right ... to facilitate any investment, any partnership ... the issuing of any license and the granting of any concession in our sovereign space,” Ali said.
Although Caracas has long claimed Essequibo, it ratcheted up its rhetoric after Guyana, which has governed the area for more than 100 years, started issuing licenses for oil companies to operate there.
The meeting took place after months of escalating discord that has raised fears in the region of a potential conflict over the remote area of 160,000km2.
Maduro’s government on Dec. 3 held a referendum in which 95 percent of voters supported declaring Venezuela the rightful owner of Essequibo.
He has since started legal maneuvers to create a Venezuelan province in Essequibo and ordered the state oil company to issue licenses for extracting crude in the region — moves that Ali branded as a “grave threat to international peace and security.”
Guyana has taken the case to the UN Security Council and approached military “partners,” including the US, which has carried out joint military exercises in Essequibo.
“The land boundary between Venezuela and Guyana should be respected unless — or until — the parties reach a new agreement or a competent legal body decides otherwise,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Lula, according to a State Department summary of a call on Thursday between the two.
Lula has backed a peaceful solution and warned Maduro against “unilateral measures that could escalate the situation.”
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