The United Kingdom and Venezuela are at loggerheads over a dispute over Essequibo

Current United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Cameron spoke out this Thursday (7) against dictator Nicolas Maduro’s attempts to seize 70% of Guyana’s territory.

According to the former British prime minister, “There is absolutely no justification for unilateral action by Venezuela, whose borders were established in 1899. It is a mistake,” Cameron said during a joint statement with the US secretary of state. , Anthony Blinken, in Washington.

A member of the British government has announced that he will make some phone calls this Friday (8) to the President of Guyana and other officials in the region, “to try to ensure that this regressive step that has been taken does not go further” , referring to the initiative of the dictator Maduro.

Venezuela’s Vice President Delsey Rodríguez responded to Cameron’s statements on the United Kingdom’s social network, particularly from Brexit, which David Cameron is directly responsible for.

Since Maduro announced an “action plan” to annex Essequibo this week, the Guyanese president has said the defense force is on “high alert” and is in contact with its military allies in other countries, including the US Southern Command. This Thursday (7), the US government and the Guyanese military conducted the first joint operation in the region.

In 1899 the Paris Arbitration Award granted sovereignty over Essequibo to the British Empire, which further colonized Guyana. Venezuela contested the decision, and in 1966, the year Guyana became independent, the Geneva Convention was signed, which recognized Venezuela’s claim and established a four-year deadline to resolve the issue, which never happened.

Since then, the dispute has dragged on for decades and intensified after the discovery of large oil reserves in the disputed area in 2015.

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