MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Guyana accuses Venezuela of serious border incident

Guyanese Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally

Guyana insisted over the week end in accusing Venezuelan involvement in the destruction of two gold-mining dredges on Guyanese territory in spite of Venezuelan denial of such an action. Guyana's claim follows a military report on the incident.

Guyana says 36 Venezuelan soldiers used helicopters and Compostion-4 (C-4), a type of plastic explosive, to blow up the two dredges on Thursday. The dredges were in a disputed border region that has seen a number of recent incidents. Guyana summoned Venezuela's ambassador to explain the incident. Venezuela denies using force and said the army was removing illegal miners inside its own territory. Guyanese defense troops and police traveled to the border on Friday to investigate whether the incident took place on the Wenamu River between the two countries, or the Cuyuni River in Guyana. Guyanese Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally said that his country was "very disturbed by this report because it affects our territorial sovereignty". But Venezuela's ambassador to Guyana, Dario Morandy, indicated that his country could provide co-ordinates to show the incident had occurred within Venezuelan borders. The ambassador also accused illegal miners of polluting rivers with mercury and said Venezuela was protecting its natural resources. However Insally revealed that a report from Guyana's Defence Forces showed that Venezuelan soldiers had been involved in the incident having penetrated territorial waters to destroy the dredges.