The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela head to a tense meeting to defuse the regional dispute

KINGSTON, St. Vincent (AP) — Guyana refuses to bow to Venezuela in its dispute over an oil- and mineral-rich region claimed by both countries, the smaller nation said Thursday as its president met with the Venezuelan leader in the latest of their bitter chapters. Competition.

The Guyanese government said the country’s control of Essequibo, a vast border region located along Venezuela’s border, “is not up for discussion, negotiation or deliberation.”

The statement was issued shortly before Guyanese President Irfaan Ali and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent. They clasped hands as the leaders around them clapped, then sat behind closed doors.

“We will make the most of it so that Latin America and the Caribbean remain a zone of peace,” Maduro said ahead of the meeting.

The tension over Essequibo has raised fears about a military conflict, although many believe that is unlikely.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Biden administration officials are closely monitoring rising tensions.

“We don’t want to see this conflicted,” Kirby said. “There is no reason for that and our diplomats are engaged in real time.”

the He disputes The dispute over Essequibo escalated when Venezuela announced that its citizens had voted in elections December 3 referendum to claim two-thirds of their smaller neighbour.

Ali and Maduro met for the first time individually with prime ministers and other officials from the region who pushed for the meeting to be held at Argyle International Airport in St. Vincent. The Guyana government said it was awaiting a ruling from the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands and said in its statement on Thursday that regional leaders “concur with Guyana’s position.”

These leaders were meeting behind closed doors and could not be immediately reached for comment.

But before the meeting, Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, said: “If we use a cricket analogy, this is not a one-day cricket match.”

“The fact that they will be speaking is very important on a friendly and neutral ground like St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” he said.

The President of Venezuela did it State-owned enterprises ordered To explore and exploit oil, gas and mines in Essequibo. And they have both sides And put their armies on alert.

Venezuela insists that the Essequibo region was part of its territory during the Spanish colonial period, and says that the 1966 Geneva Agreement between its country, Britain and Guyana – a former colony called British Guiana – abolished the borders drawn by international arbitrators in 1899.

Ali rejected what he said was Maduro’s description of “the intervention of the United States Southern Command, which has begun operations in the disputed region.”

US Southern Command has conducted air operations inside Guyana in recent days.

“Any allegation of a military operation targeting Venezuela in any part of Guyanese territory is false, misleading and provocative,” Ali said in a letter to Gonsalves before the meeting.