PANAMA CITY, PANAMA (Piero Stewart, Energy Analytics Institute, 9.Apr.2025) — Venezuela’s executive vice president Delcy Rodríguez, who now refers to Guyana’s president Irfaan Ali as the ‘Zelensky of the Caribbean,’ said Venezuela categorically rejects a recent statement issued by Guyana’s government regarding a long-standing dispute over the Essequibo region.
Rodríguez argued that Guyana continued a “desperate and irresponsible attempt to distort and ignore the legally binding obligations assumed with the signing of the 1966 Geneva agreement, according to which the territorial dispute over the Essequibo must be resolved through a practical and mutually acceptable settlement between the parties.”
The Essequibo region spans some 60,000 square miles and consists mainly of dense jungle and is rich in oil and mineral reserves. Venezuela has long held claim to the land, which it says was stolen when borders between Venezuela and Guyana were drawn by international arbitrators over a century ago, when Guyana was still a British colony.
