The Governments of Venezuela and Guyana, at a meeting led by their leaders in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines this Thursday, agreed to the following: Do not threaten or use force under any circumstancesThey include “derivatives of any existing dispute between both States”, such as the Essequibo dispute, which has increased tensions in recent weeks.
According to the joint statement, Both countries are in dispute over a natural resource-rich region of almost 160,000 square kilometersThey agreed that “any dispute” would be resolved “in accordance with international law”, including the 1966 Geneva Convention advocated by Caracas, which provided for the resolution of the dispute through dialogue.
Following the meeting between Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his Guyanese counterpart Irfaan Ali, the parties decided to continue “dialogue on other outstanding issues of mutual importance” and avoid “any escalation of tensions in word or deed.” Conflict or disagreement arising from any argument. In this sense, “Will cooperate to prevent incidents that will cause tension in the field“and in the event of such an incident, they will “immediately communicate with each other, with the Caribbean Community (Caricom), with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), and with the president of Brazil,” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said, “to contain it, on the contrary to turn it around and prevent it from recurring.”
The Brazilian President and Celac, with the support of Caricom and the UN, proposed this meeting to the conflicting parties five days after the proposal, with the aim of stopping tensions and avoiding individual actions.
Caracas and Georgetown also agreed to “immediately establish a joint commission” with their respective foreign ministers and technicians to “deal with mutually agreed upon issues” and provide an update to Maduro and Ali “within three months.”
The debate became even more heated after Venezuela’s ratification on December 3. unilateral referendum It annexed the disputed territory – intended to be binding – under the control of Georgetown, and the Maduro Government ordered the deployment of a military division near the disputed territory and a change in officialdom, for the time being without any aggression. Map of Venezuela with Guayana Esequiba added.