Venezuela rejected Guyana’s “offensive statements” about the planned consultative referendum on the Essequibo, which it claims as its territory, on Tuesday.
The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically rejects the infamous and offensive statements of the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana regarding the consultative referendum scheduled for December 3, 2023, which are loaded with deep contempt for Venezuelans, their Bolivarian history, and their right to express themselves democratically in matters of special national importance, Caracas said.
Georgetown previously expressed concern that Venezuela’s December 3 referendum could lead to the annexation of Essequibo, which Caracas claims belongs to it.
The Guyana government claimed it had taken “careful note” of the National Electoral Council of Venezuela’s five referendum questions.
Question five is the most damaging of Venezuela’s “unlawful and unfounded claim to more than two-thirds of Guyana’s national territory,” it claimed.
“It brazenly seeks Venezuelan approval of the creation of a new Venezuelan State consisting of Guyana’s Essequibo Region, which would be incorporated into Venezuela’s national territory, and the granting of Venezuelan citizenship to the population.”
This “amounts to nothing less than the annexation of Guyana’s territory, in blatant violation of the most fundamental rules of the UN Charter, the OAS Charter and general international law,” Guyana said
The Irfaan Ali government declared it “categorically rejects any attempt to undermine the territorial integrity of the sovereign State of Guyana” and that a seizure of Guyana’s territory would be an international crime of aggression.
However, Caracas stated on X, formerly Twitter, that Guyana’s statements “once again, are being drafted by the law firm employed by Exxon Mobil, a company that has corrupted the Latin American and Caribbean values of this nation and has bought off the Guyanese political class, dragging them into erratic actions, contrary to Public International Law, with the objectives of appropriating energy resources that do not belong to it and attempting to
Contrary to this disastrous anti-sovereign practice, the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in full exercise of its powers, has decided to consult the Venezuelan people on the main legal, diplomatic, and political actions to enforce Guayana Esequiba’s legitimate rights.
Venezuela stated Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali’s “insistent refusal to diplomatic dialogue” “threatens a dangerous escalation to a large-scale conflict, promoted by the US Southern Command.”
In accordance with international law and the 1966 Geneva Agreement, Venezuela urges the Guyanese government to desist from its unilateral and subordinate actions to transnational capital and seriously engage in direct negotiations that resolve the territorial dispute, as was agreed with the United Kingdom of Great Britain just before Guyana was founded.
Georgetown “finds abhorrent that the Essequibo region, which is part of Guyana according to the 1899 Arbitral Award that demarcated the States of Venezuela and then British Guiana, should be ‘created’ into a State within Venezuela.”
Additionally, the Government opposes the globally unlawful conduct to award citizenship and Venezuelan identity cards in accordance with the Geneva Agreement and international law. Guyana stated the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has jurisdiction over the validity of the Arbitral Award of 1899 because of the Geneva Agreement and international law. Guyana has frequently urged Venezuela to join the case.
The people of Guyana are steadfast against threats to their sovereignty and territorial integrity. In international law, neither a nation’s government nor its people can seize, annexe, or take another’s land. This is strictly prohibited by international law.”
Guyana wants the international community to focus on “the actions being carried out by the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which have the potential to incite violence and to threaten the peace and security of the State of Guyana and by extension the Caribbean region.”
