{"id":60088,"date":"2023-12-15T16:32:27","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T16:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/venezuela-guyana-leaders-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions"},"modified":"2023-12-15T16:52:12","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T16:52:12","slug":"venezuela-guyana-leaders-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/venezuela-guyana-leaders-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela, Guyana leaders meet to \u2018de-escalate\u2019 tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>The presidents of Venezuela and Guyana were set to meet yesterday for talks analysts say could \u201cde-escalate\u201d tensions but will do little to resolve their countries\u2019 long-standing territorial dispute.<\/p>\n

The meeting in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will see Venezuela\u2019s Nicolas Maduro meet Guyana\u2019s Irfaan Ali amid their dispute over Essequibo – an area of 160 000 square kilometres rich in oil and natural resources that is administered by Georgetown and claimed by Caracas.<\/p>\n

Maduro\u2019s government held a referendum on 3 December in which 95% of voters supported declaring Venezuela Essequibo\u2019s rightful owner.<\/p>\n

He has since started legal manoeuvres to create a Venezuelan province in Essequibo and ordered the state oil company to issue licenses for extracting crude in the region – moves Ali branded as a \u201cgrave threat to international peace and security.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two leaders have voiced sharply opposing views of the talks. Maduro has hailed the meeting as a way to \u201cdirectly address the territorial controversy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ali has said he will not discuss the border dispute and insists it should be resolved at the International Court of Justice, whose jurisdiction is not recognized by the Venezuelan government.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think nothing substantive is going to come out in terms of the territorial claim, since Guyana\u2019s position is that there are no bilateral talks on the issue, because that is in the International Court of Justice,\u201d Sadio Garavini di Turno, former Venezuelan ambassador to Guyana, told AFP.<\/p>\n

He said a best-case scenario would be a joint statement in which both sides commit \u201cto lower the escalation\u201d and agree that \u201cthey are going to continue talking to lower tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guyana has taken the case to the UN Security Council and approached military \u201cpartners,\u201d including the United States, which carried out joint military exercises in the Essequibo.<\/p>\n

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, invited to the talks at both sides\u2019 request, has backed a peaceful solution and warned Maduro against \u201cunilateral measures that could escalate the situation.\u201d Brazil has also reinforced its troops around the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this meeting is going to be useful to talk about eradicating the idea of going to an armed conflict, then I welcome it,\u201d Ramon Escovar Leon, a lawyer specialized in international litigation told AFP.<\/p>\n

The decades-old dispute intensified after ExxonMobil discovered oil in Essequibo in 2015, helping give Guyana – which has a population of 800 000 – the world\u2019s biggest crude reserves per capita. The Venezuelan government\u2019s anti-imperialist rhetoric has seen it accuse Ali of being \u201ca slave\u201d of ExxonMobil.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Venezuelan foreign minister Yvan Gil told reporters there could be talk of \u201ccooperation in oil and gas matters.\u201d Gil cited the Petrocaribe agreements, under which Venezuela supplies crude oil at preferential prices to Caribbean countries, and gas deals with Trinidad and Tobago.<\/p>\n

He said these were \u201cconcrete examples\u201d that \u201ccould serve as a basis for future agreements with the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.\u201d The row has other South American nations on edge. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay issued a joint declaration calling for \u201cboth parties to negotiate to seek a peaceful solution.\u201d Colombian President Gustavo Petro warned the situation was potentially explosive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest misfortune that could hit South America would be a war,\u201d he wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. The presidents of Venezuela and Guyana were set to meet yesterday for talks analysts say could \u201cde-escalate\u201d tensions but will do little to resolve their countries\u2019 long-standing territorial dispute. The meeting in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will see Venezuela\u2019s Nicolas Maduro meet Guyana\u2019s Irfaan Ali amid their dispute over Essequibo – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":60087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-60088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nVenezuela, Guyana leaders meet to \u2018de-escalate\u2019 tensions - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The presidents of Venezuela and Guyana were set to meet yesterday for talks analysts say could \u201cde-escalate\u201d tensions bu ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/venezuela-guyana-leaders-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Venezuela, Guyana leaders meet to \u2018de-escalate\u2019 tensions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The presidents of Venezuela and Guyana were set to meet yesterday for talks analysts say could \u201cde-escalate\u201d tensions bu ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/venezuela-guyana-leaders-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-15T16:32:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-15T16:52:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/12\/sm_1702646412.486581.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"479\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/venezuela-guyana-leaders-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/venezuela-guyana-leaders-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Venezuela, Guyana leaders meet to \u2018de-escalate\u2019 tensions\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-15T16:32:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-15T16:52:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/venezuela-guyana-leaders-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions\"},\"wordCount\":562,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/venezuela-guyana-leaders-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/12\/sm_1702646412.486581.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/venezuela-guyana-leaders-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/venezuela-guyana-leaders-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/venezuela-guyana-leaders-meet-to-de-escalate-tensions\",\"name\":\"Venezuela, Guyana leaders meet to \u2018de-escalate\u2019 tensions - 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