A Guyanese helicopter reported missing on Thursday crashed, killing five soldiers, an accident that Venezuela’s president on Friday deemed “a message from outside”, in the context of the dispute between the two countries over the territory of Essequibo.
“I express my condolences to the Guyanese people and the armed forces, but this is a message from outside: do not play with Venezuela, whoever plays with Venezuela will be burned,” President Nicolás Maduro said during a rally in front of the presidential palace.
The Venezuelan leader said the seven soldiers on the helicopter – five killed in the accident and two survivors – were heading to Essequibo to “remove a flag” of Venezuela, which he said had been raised by indigenous people in recent days. people in an oil-rich part of the area that was disputed with Guyana.
The plane’s disappearance was announced on Thursday: Guyanese Armed Forces Chief of Staff Omar Khan said “nothing would indicate” Venezuelan action, but Maduro said neighboring country’s media blamed Venezuela for the incident.
The Guyana Defense Force, which reported the helicopter missing on Thursday, suspecting it had crashed, later confirmed that it had located the two soldiers who survived the accident.
The two were rescued and treated by doctors at Blakeslater Airport, close to the plane crash site, the military said.
The seven Guyanese soldiers were on their way to a point near the border with Venezuela on Wednesday when the helicopter disappeared.
The two countries are in conflict over oil-rich territory of about 160,000 square kilometers, which represents more than two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to about a fifth of its population, or about 125,000 people.
Venezuela claims it as its own This question has become even more urgent since ExxonMobil discovered oil in the Essequibo in 2015, and tensions have increased since then.
For Venezuela, the Essequibo River should be the natural border, just as it was in 1777, during the Spanish Empire. Guyana maintains that the border, which dates back to the British colonial era, was ratified in 1899 by an arbitration court in Paris.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro signed six decrees on Friday to regain Essequibo, an area in conflict with neighboring Guyana, and accused several Venezuelan opposition politicians of allying with Georgetown and ExxonMobil and betrayed by claiming Essequibo, a disputed area. with neighboring country Guyana.
“We have started a new phase in history. After 150 years, the consciousness of justice, equality and independence, of exercising sovereignty, has awakened. (…) Look how the ultra-right is screaming,” said Nicolás Maduro.
Source: DN
