Recently, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened Venezuela with military advances in response to Venezuela’s free navigation in its territorial and sovereign waters on the Essequibo continental shelf. This was repudiated and denounced this Thursday by the Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs, Yván Gil, who reiterated that the Bolivarian nation will not give in to this blackmail:
«Marco Rubio does not surprise us. We are familiar with that old script of threats and bravado with which a self-conscious person hopes to frighten sovereign peoples,» stated the Venezuelan diplomat: «Venezuela does not give in to intimidation, nor does it give in to the blackmail of those who believe that with incendiary speeches they can distort history or take away our historic rights. The sons of Simón Bolívar are not afraid of them,» he added.
Likewise, Chancellor Gil reiterated Venezuela’s position as a «peace-loving country,» a status it will defend with all available means, «with the force of reason and the legitimacy of our rights,» he stated. «We neither need nor seek conflict, but neither will we allow foreign interests to try to rewrite the reality of our Essequibo,» he added.
Furthermore, he maintained that the recovery of the Essequibo will be achieved through the 1966 Geneva Agreement, the only valid legal instrument for discussing this territorial dispute: «Get your noses out of this controversy!» Finally, he asserted that «we will not allow you to turn this into a battleground for the interests of Exxon Mobil’s transnational corporations and your country’s military-industrial complex.»