- Maduro agrees to Guyana talks after discussion with St Vincent and Brazil leaders.
- Venezuela Calls For ‘High-level’ Talks With Guyana Amid Border Row
Nicolas Maduro, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, has spoken via telephone with President Luiz Inácio da Silva and Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
During these discussions, a proposal to organize a high-level meeting with the Cooperative Republic of Guyana was received.
Maduro’s government said in a statement the meeting “will be announced in the coming days, with a goal of preserving our aspiration to maintain Latin America and the Caribbean as a region of peace, without interference by external actors.”
Venezuelan Communications Minister Freddy Nanez said Guyana had agreed to the meeting, though the Guyanese government did not immediately confirm.
Tension has soared over Essequibo, which has historically been controlled by Guyana, since Maduro’s government held a controversial referendum last weekend in which 95 percent of voters supported declaring Venezuela its rightful owner, according to official results.
The United States, Britain, Russia and South American countries have all urged de-escalation and a peaceful solution in recent days.
The United Nations Security Council held a closed-door meeting Friday on the spiraling dispute, which is also the subject of litigation before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
#Communication The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela @NicolasMaduro has held telephone conversations with President Luiz Inácio da Silva and with the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves. In these conversations, the… pic.twitter.com/huVVwJTat7
— Yvan Gil (@yvangil) December 9, 2023
