The Guyana Protection Power (GDF) reported on Thursday that its troopers got here below fireplace from armed males in civilian clothes positioned on the Venezuelan facet of the Cuyuni River, as tensions mount forward of Venezuela’s controversial Could 25 election within the disputed Essequibo area.
In keeping with a GDF assertion, the assaults occurred throughout three separate incidents over a 24-hour interval alongside the river stretch between Eteringbang and Makapa. The gunmen, who stay unidentified, launched their assaults from the Venezuelan shore throughout routine patrols carried out by Guyanese forces.
“In every occasion, the Guyana Defence Power executed a measured response, and no rank sustained any accidents,” the GDF famous.
The navy reaffirmed its dedication to defending Guyana’s territorial sovereignty and making certain the security of its residents, emphasizing that common patrols will proceed alongside the border.
The GDF “stays resolute in its mission,” the assertion continued, pledging to “proceed to answer acts of aggression” and to take “all mandatory measures to safeguard the nation’s borders and preserve peace and safety.”
– Commercial –
The reported confrontations come simply days earlier than Venezuela plans to carry elections within the Essequibo area, a territory administered by Guyana however claimed by Caracas. The vote is about to go ahead regardless of a binding order from the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ) prohibiting unilateral actions within the disputed space.
In a statement, the federal government of President Nicolás Maduro firmly opposed the ICJ’s authority over the matter, insisting that worldwide regulation doesn’t allow the court docket to “intrude” in what it deems inside Venezuelan affairs.
Venezuela has asserted possession over the resource-rich Essequibo for many years, a area that contains roughly two-thirds of Guyana’s landmass. In recent times, Caracas has expanded its claims to incorporate elements of Guyana’s maritime territory, together with offshore zones the place ExxonMobil has made main oil discoveries—totaling over 11 billion barrels of oil equal within the Stabroek Block.
Guyana introduced the border dispute earlier than the ICJ, which in Could reaffirmed an earlier ruling barring Venezuela from altering the established order and explicitly rejected Caracas’ deliberate election within the area.
The authorized battle facilities on the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the boundary between the 2 nations. Venezuela had acknowledged the award for many years earlier than repudiating it in 1962 and renewing its declare to the Essequibo.
