U.S. Supports Guyana's Sovereignty Amidst Territorial Dispute With Venezuela

U.S. Supports Guyana's Sovereignty Amidst Territorial Dispute With Venezuela

The United States is “unwavering” in its support for the sovereignty of Guyana, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali in a recent phone call.

Guyana and its much larger neighbor Venezuela are in a territorial dispute over Guyana’s oil-rich Essequibo region that Venezuela is claiming as its own after a recent referendum. The dispute over the region is long-standing, but it intensified after large reserves of crude oil were discovered there in 2015. Guyana has controlled the region since 1899 following an arbitral ruling by an international tribunal.

On December 1, the International Court of Justice ruled that the two parties must refrain from any action to change the status quo until the panel can rule on the competing claims. Yet on December 3rd, Venezuelans voted in a referendum, promoted by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, to reject the Court’s jurisdiction over the dispute and to recognize the Essequibo region as part of their country. Although reportedly voter turnout for the referendum was low, President Maduro has already produced and distributed to schools, universities, and public establishments a map incorporating Essequibo as a state in Venezuela.

The day after the referendum, U.S. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller urged Venezuela and Guyana “to continue to seek a peaceful resolution of their dispute. This is not something that will be settled by a referendum,” he said.

National Security Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby called the moves taken by Venezuela “concerning.”

“We obviously support the peaceful resolution of the border dispute between Venezuela and Guyana,” said Coordinator Kirby. “And of course, we absolutely stand by our unwavering support for Guyana sovereignty. The 1899 arbitral award that determined the land boundary between those two countries should be respected unless or until the parties themselves reach a new agreement, or a competent legal body decides otherwise, and that hasn’t happened. So we’re going to urge Venezuela and Guyana to continue to seek a peaceful resolution of this dispute, including by the International Court of Justice.”

In its readout of the call between Secretary Blinken and Guyanese President Ali, the State Department noted, “The two leaders concluded the call by agreeing upon the importance of maintaining a peaceful and democratic Western Hemisphere.”