The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) says it’s ready to defend the country against any act of aggression at the country’s border with neighbour Venezuela. The declaration was made by the GDF’s Chief-of-Staff Brigadier Mark Phillips, as Minister of State Joseph Harmon also assured that President David Granger was “on top of the situation”, which he described as 'a show of force' and 'not a threat of force'.
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro says he wants to have a discussion with his Guyanese counterpart to find a way to settle the conflicts between the two countries. He made a call for a meeting to be held on the sidelines of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York, during his ‘Contact with Maduro’ program, according to the statement on the website of the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.
Venezuela says the deployment of its troops near the border it shares with Guyana, which triggered serious concern in Georgetown, is “an operational deployment exercise”. This follows on months of diplomatic aggression and threats by the regime of Nicolas Maduro claiming two thirds of Guyana's territory.
Guyana President David Granger is claiming that Venezuela is making “abnormal and extraordinary military deployments” near the border between the two countries. He made the accusation on Tuesday, saying that he had received reports about the movement in eastern Venezuela/western Guyana.
An ExxonMobil rig that re-ignited a maritime boundary dispute between Guyana and Venezuela has now left the area, a Guyanese official said on Monday, but denying it was because of Venezuelan pressure.
Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro said he asked U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for U.N. mediation in his country's century-old border dispute with neighboring Guyana. The controversy was discussed by Maduro and Ban at a meeting Tuesday morning in New York.
Guyana's territorial dispute with neighboring Venezuela represents a threat to its very survival, President David Granger warned Friday in Washington. After a recent offshore oil find, the row between the two countries has escalated, with Venezuela laying claim to a huge swathe of Guyana's territory.
Guyana on Sunday warned it would “stoutly resist” plans by Venezuela to register residents in Essequibo and issue them identification cards for the neighbouring Spanish-speaking nation. Venezuela claims the region and has launched an aggressive campaign at domestic and international level calling president David Granger a 'provocateur”.
Guyanese President David Granger and Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge plan to attend the biannual Mercosur summit in Brasilia later this next, a Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed to the Spanish news agency EFE.
President Nicolas Maduro announced Monday that he was recalling Venezuela's ambassador in neighboring Guyana for consultation amid mounting tensions over their disputed border. During an address to parliament, Maduro said that he also is initiating a comprehensive review of relations with much smaller Guyana and reducing the size of Venezuela's embassy there.