Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will meet Thursday with his Guyanese counterpart Mohamed Irfaan Ali amid growing tensions over the jurisdiction of the oil-rich Essequibo region.
The meeting, set to take place on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, was announced following Maduro’s talks with prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and president pro tempore of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States or CELAC, Ralph Gonsalves, as well as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday.
Ali, who agreed to the meeting despite his parliament unanimously telling him not to, said that "Guyana's land boundary is not up for discussion."
Disputes over the Essequibo region are longstanding, though the recent discovery of offshore oil and gas has caused tensions on the issue to flare.
Earlier this month, Venezuela held a referendum in which voters rejected the International Court of Justice’s jurisdiction over the region and supported the creation of a new Venezuelan state.
Ali has stated that he will use this meeting not to hold negotiations, but rather to insist that the case be heard by the ICJ as originally planned.
Several South American countries released a joint statement in support of dialogue between the two countries, as well as Gonsalves, the head of CELAC, who said there is "the urgent need to de-escalate the conflict and institute an appropriate dialogue."
The United States, which earlier held joint flight drills with Guyana, has maintained its position of support for the country.
"We reaffirm the United States' unwavering support for Guyana's sovereignty," the press office of the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia said.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
