MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela condemns Caricom declaration regarding Essequibo

Venezuela claimed that Guyana had handed over its sovereignty to the United States and Exxon Mobil

Venezuela's Foreign Ministry rejected the Caribbean Community's latest statement regarding the oil-rich Essequibo territory under Guyana's control since 1899 which the Spanish-speaking country claims as its own.

Caracas recalled in a statement issued Friday “the warmongering actions promoted by the Cooperative Republic of Guyana” backed by ”alliances with the US Southern Command, the ExxonMobil oil company, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).“

”The communiqué issued by the Caribbean Community (Caricom) on May 29, 2024, on the conclusion of the 27th Meeting of the Council on Foreign and Community Relations (Cofcor), in particular regarding the Guyana-Venezuela Controversy, which seeks to promote the malicious and distorted matrix of presenting Venezuela as an aggressor nation,“ the Chavist regime argued.

According to Venezuela, these actions not only ”point to the preparation of an aggression“ but also constitute ”a flagrant violation of the agreements established in the Argyle Joint Declaration for Dialogue and Peace between Guyana and Venezuela signed in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, on December 14, 2023.“ As per these documents, neither party would ”threaten or use force against each other.“

Venezuela also underlined recurring visits of high-level US officials to neighboring Guyana, in addition to ”interfering statements“ and ”threats against Venezuela“ being made. Thus, Caracas contended that Georgetown had handed over its sovereignty to the United States and ”to the voracious appetite of Exxon Mobil“ oil company, which ”regrettably promotes regional instability” and represents a threat to the Peace Zone declared by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac).

Caracas thus urged Guyana to comply with “the only possible” way for the practical and satisfactory solution of the dispute over the Essequiba Guiana as established in the Geneva Agreement of 1966, which remained the only binding element for both parties.

In this scenario, Maduro's administration regretted the “biased” position of Caricom when ”Guyana unilaterally (...) has granted and continues to grant oil exploitation licenses in maritime spaces pending delimitation with Venezuela.“

In a related event, the Nicaraguan Government of President Daniel Ortega expressed its unwavering support to Venezuela regarding the Essequibo controversy, reaffirming ”the supreme right of that brother country to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity, against the greedy and voracious appetites of the imperialists of the Earth.“

Nicaragua's declarations were also issued after Caricom said Venezuela ”continued its aggressive posture towards Guyana” in a communiqué signed by the foreign ministers of the Caricom member countries at the end of the 27th Meeting of the Council on Foreign and Community Relations (Cofcor).

“In these times of heroic and victorious struggles to demand absolute respect for what belongs to us, by right, Venezuela has set courses of affirmation of its ancestral territories that in legitimate justice have belonged and belong to it,” the Nicaraguan Executive said.

“Once again the neo-colonialists and imperialists of the Earth unleash their hegemonic furies on our sacred geographies, pretending to return us to past times, in which, we allow ourselves to remind them of the glorious minds and battles of the liberators of our Caribbean America, such as Simón Bolívar, who lives in the demand of respect for everything that by divine law belongs to our peoples,” Managua also pointed out.