GEORGETOWN: Guyana has summoned Venezuela’s envoy to protest a move by Caracas to conduct a plebiscite on the fate of a disputed border area rich in oil, Foreign Minister Hugh Todd said on Sunday.
The Minister told AFP that a note expressing Guyana’s “concern” was handed over to Carlos Amador Perez Silva. Guyana, in a statement, lamented “the act of the Venezuelan parliament to hold a referendum on defending Venezuela’s false claim to Guyana’s region of Essequibo.”
The latest quarrel was triggered by Guyana auctioning off oil blocks in Caracas, AFP added.
Venezuela has long claimed that the 160,000-square-kilometer area of Essequibo, run by Guyana, should fall within its boundaries. However, Guyana says its boundary with Venezuela was fixed by a tribunal in 1899. According to Venezuela, the region forms a natural border between the two nations that was recognized as the border in 1777.
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The issue intensified following US oil firm ExxonMobil had explored crude oil deposits off the region’s coast in 2015.
A dispute is also pending before the ICJ in The Hague at Guyana’s plea and despite protests from Venezuela.
Earlier On Thursday, Venezuelan parliament suggested a plebiscite on the issue, a step Guyana said “has the possibility to provoke tension between the two countries.”
