Enough of Lies About Essequibo, President Maduro Warns Guyana

On Saturday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro responded to the statements made by the Guyanese President Irfann Ali, who a few hours earlier rejected the initiative of the National Assembly related to the holding of a referendum on Venezuelan sovereignty in Essequibo.

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“President Irfaan Ali, enough of lies and of trying to hide the historical truth that weighs on the dispute over the Essequibo territory, whose only means of resolution, as you well know, is the Geneva Agreement of 1966,” the Venezuelan President recalled.

“Enough of irresponsibility, manipulation, double talk, hypocrisy, and false victimization. In your eagerness to please powerful transnational interests, you are turning Guyana into a branch of ExxonMobil,” he added.

“The steps your government is taking violate international legality and jeopardize peace in the region. If your interest in peace is genuine and sincere, I propose a meeting promoted by CARICOM to retake the Geneva Agreement of 1966,” Maduro pointed out.

“President Irfaan do not allow ExxonMobil, for its undue interests, to lead Guyana to the escalation of a conflict. Do not allow the Southern Command to turn your country into a military base against Bolivar's Venezuela,” he warned.

Previously, during his speech before the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Saturday, Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil denounced that the United States intends to militarize the territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana over an area of 160,000 square kilometers, where Washington "tries to create a military base."

"The U.S. Southern Command is trying to create a military base in the claimed territory in order to create a spearhead to attack Venezuela and consolidate the dispossession of our energy resources," he said.

To consummate these intentions, Washington is using the U.S. company ExxonMobil, "which has incorporated into its payroll the Government of Guyana, which is granting oil concessions in an undelimited territorial sea, in total violation of international law."

Gil pointed out that, despite the fact that "it is not possible to dispose of a disputed territory unilaterally", the Guyanese Government "persists in its illegal conduct", which is why Venezuela ratifies "its firm decision to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity."

On Thursday, the Venezuelan National Assembly approved calling a consultative referendum to strengthen the rights of the Bolivarian nation over the Essequibo, a region rich in natural and mineral resources that has been the subject of territorial disputes for almost 200 years.