By asserting that “Guyana becomes a threat to stability and international law throughout the Caribbean region,” the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro, rejected the warmongering position of his counterpart Irfaan Ali, as well as the intention to give in oil blocks located in an undefined sea:
“The government of Guyana has taken the path of a warmongering escalade, of provocation, of illegality. From Venezuela we tell you: Venezuela is not to be offended, it is not to be provoked. Mr. President of Guyana, you are messing with a nation of liberators, an anti-imperialist nation, one of people of dignity who know how to defend what is ours,” he stated during the “Con Maduro+” program.
The statement by the head of state, who indicated that Georgetown’s actions constitute “An insolence against the peace of Latin America and the Caribbean,” responds to Irfaan Ali’s illegal decision to give the green light to drillings in shallow water – of sea in territorial dispute – to oil companies with foreign capital.
“From Venezuela we raise our voice to the people of the Caribbean in the face of this warmongering escalade, in the face of these statements where it is intended to deliver oil blocks in a sea that is not delimited, which has been in controversy for more than 120 years, where – even – they have delivered oil blocks in the strictly Venezuelan sea, off the coast of the Amacuro Delta,” he added.
In this sense, he pointed out that the transnational companies that are in the bidding process “are entering into illegality,” while affirming that Venezuela, asserting its sovereignty, “will never acknowledge those blocks and those licenses.”
“We tell ExxonMobil and any transnationals that seek to receive these licenses, that they are entering into illegality and Venezuela will never acknowledge those blocks and those licenses and we will assert our sovereignty as we have always done. “We are a nation of peace,” he noted.
He emphasized that Venezuela “has a clear strategy so that you, Mr. President of Guyana, an instrument of the Southern Command and a politician paid by ExxonMobil, do not get your way,” this being the consultative referendum on the defense of Guyana Esequiba, which will take place on Sunday, December 3.
“We in here are serene, balanced, firm and preparing for the great consultative referendum, because it is challenging the people of Venezuela and we have a clear way to respond to the provocations of the Southern Command, of ExxonMobil, of the paid politicians, of the warmongering pretensions of Guyana: By going out to vote massively for the Essequibo,” he stressed.
