Venezuela appears to be toughening its position on Guyana as the government of Guyana continues to rally the support of the international community and they are all condemning Venezuela for its latest claim to Guyana’s territory.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has now recalled his Ambassador to Guyana for consultations and has also decided to trim the number of workers at the Venezuelan embassy in Guyana.
In an address to his country’s National Assembly on Monday, Maduro also instructed his Minister of Foreign Affairs to re-examine diplomatic relations with Guyana.
Guyana and Venezuela have shared strong diplomatic relations for decades in spite of the border controversy.
Just this past week, CARICOM joined The Commonwealth and the Organization of American States and the US Government in denouncing Venezuela’s illegal decree claiming Guyana’s oil rich waters.
The international community appears firmly in Guyana’s corner. President David Granger has said Venezuela must withdraw the illegal decree and stop blocking Guyana’s development of its oil resources.
President Granger used most of his speech at the opening of the CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting in Barbados last Thursday to make clear Guyana’s position on the Venezuelan decree, which seeks to claim Guyana oil rich waters.
“Guyana, even as it approaches the 50th anniversary of its independence next year, hand in hand with its sister Barbados, is still carrying a monkey on its back. That monkey is the unbearable burden of an oppressive and obnoxious claim to our land and sea space”, Granger said.
The President said CARICOM has been source of solace and steadfast support for Guyana’s territorial integrity over the years, “we never needed that support more than now”.
He said the claims by Venezuela has affected Guyana’s economic development over the years and that ought not to continue.
“Guyana’s border with Venezuela was fixed 116 years ago. It was determined, it was defined, it was delimited, it was demarcated by international arbitration. Maps were drawn, atlases were adjusted, border markers were cast in stone”.
He said Venezuela must be condemned for its repudiation of the international agreement. President Granger said the Venezuelan decree just does not affect Guyana but also affects the Exclusive Economic Zone of a number of CARICOM states including Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
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