Venezuela has decided to stop buying much of Guyana's rice crop amid an escalating border dispute between the two neighboring countries, the Guyanese finance minister said. The administration of president Nicolas Maduro has in the past four years purchased about 40% of Guyana's rice production, about 200,000 tons, paying for it with oil that amounts to about half of Guyana's daily supply needs.
The chairman of a 15-member Caribbean trade bloc said over the weekend that he backs Guyana's government amid an escalating border dispute with neighboring Venezuela. Freundel Stuart spoke at a press conference as Caricom leaders ended a three-day summit in Barbados.
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.
The 53 member states of the Commonwealth have pledged to support Guyana in the ongoing maritime border dispute with Venezuela. Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, sought to assure the government of the groupings commitment on his arrival to Jamaica.
Venezuela's ruling Socialist Party legislators reacted to a trip by Brazilian senators to visit jailed opponents of President Nicolas Maduro by describing it as abusive and meddling. The Brazilian delegation's visit on Thursday was cut short after their minibus was stoned by Maduro supporters and roads were blocked, forcing them to return to the airport and fly back the same day.
Brazilian senators seeking on Thursday to visit jailed opposition leaders in Venezuela said their minibus was stoned and blocked, forcing them to return to the airport. The group of opposition senators had planned to drive from the coastal airport of Maiquetía to the capital Caracas and then on to a military jail where hard-line opposition leader Leopoldo López has been for more than a year.
British High Commissioner to Guyana, James Gregory Quinn has dismissed Venezuela’s most recent claim on Guyana’s oil rich Essequibo Coast, stating that it lacks solid grounds. Venezuela’s President Nicholas Maduro on May 27 signed a decree that now claims an entire portion of Guyana’s territory into the Atlantic Ocean and includes the Stabroek Block where a significant portion of oil was recently discovered by US oil giant, ExxonMobil.
Guyana is turning to the United Nations to reach a legal settlement in its border dispute with Venezuela, describing Caracas’ claim of a portion of maritime space where oil was recently discovered as “a baseless and shameless attempt” at usurping Guyana’s territory.
Mercosur and Unasur member Venezuela is again bullying neighboring Guyana by issuing a presidential decree claiming more than two-thirds of the former British colony territory including the maritime area where ExxonMobil recently found a significant oil deposit.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on the Venezuelan government to address the problem of the 3.7 billion dollars in airline funds the government is withholding from the airlines.