The president of Brazil stated this Thursday, at the Mercosur Summit, that he is following with concern the tensions between Venezuela and Guyana over the Essequibo region and maintained that South America does not need a war.
“You are all following, you know a little of the history and we follow with growing concern the events related to the Essequibo issue. Mercosur cannot remain oblivious to this situation,” stated Lula da Silva.
“If something we don’t want here in South America is war, what we don’t need is war. We don’t need conflicts. What we need is to build peace, because only with a lot of peace can we develop.” our countries,’ he added.
The Brazilian President spoke at the inauguration of the Southern Common Market Summit (Mercosur), in Rio de Janeiro, which was also attended by the presidents of Argentina, Alberto Fernandes, of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, and of Uruguay, Luis Alberto. Lacalle Pou, countries that make up Mercosur, as well as other regional authorities.
Lula da Silva stressed that Brazil does not want this issue to contaminate the resumption of the regional integration process or constitute a threat to peace and stability in the region and requested that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Union of Nations The South American countries (UNASUR) intervene in the peaceful resolution of this issue.
The disagreements resurfaced after the government of Nicolás Maduro called a referendum for November 30 on the possible incorporation of Essequibo to the national map and the granting of Venezuelan nationality to the 125,000 inhabitants of the disputed area.
The referendum was attended by 10.5 million Venezuelan voters, of which 95.93% agreed to officially incorporate Essequibo into the country and grant citizenship and identity documents to the more than 120,000 Guyanese who live in the territory.
On Wednesday, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ordered the creation of a state in Guyana and the annexation of the territory of Essequibo, increasing tensions in the region.
The announcement was made during a Federal Council of Government (CFG), in which the Council of State and the Council of Defense of the Nation (CDF) participated, in the auditorium of the Military University of the Army, in Forte de Tiúna, on main military base in Caracas.
The Essequibo region, which appeared on Venezuelan maps as an “area under claim”, has been under UN mediation since 1966, when the Geneva Agreement was signed.
With an area of 160 thousand square kilometers and rich in minerals, Essequibo is under the administration of Guyana, based on a document signed in Paris in 1899, which establishes territorial limits that Venezuela does not accept.
In 2015, ExxonMobil discovered several oil deposits in Essequibo.
Meanwhile, Guyana has already authorized eight foreign oil companies to explore oil deposits in waters claimed by Venezuela.
Source: TSF
