Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government called for de-escalating the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy after meeting in a caucus on Friday.
After the meeting, a statement urged ‘appropriate dialogue’ between the leaders of Venezuela and Guyana to ensure peaceful coexistence.
The statement also noted the need to apply and respect international law and avoid threats of force.
Venezuela claims Guyana’s resource-rich Essequibo region, comprising more than two-thirds of its neighbour’s territory.
Guyana’s president, Dr. Irfaan Ali, declared this week that his country’s army was on full alert after a ‘dangerous development’ regarding Venezuela’s ‘unlawful’ claim.
His remarks followed President Nicolas Maduro’s announcement of several measures to enforce Sunday’s referendum outcome in Venezuela.
Venezuelans voted by a wide margin to approve the takeover of the disputed territory.
The referendum occurred despite an International Court of Justice (ICJ) order for Venezuela to maintain the status quo.
 “CARICOM firmly supports Guyana in pursuance of the resolution of its border controversy with Venezuela through the process of the ICJ,” the regional leaders said in their statement.
In addition, it said CARICOM reiterated its commitment to the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace and maintaining international law.
The regional leaders urged Venezuela to respect the conservatory measures determined by the ICJ in its recent ruling until a final resolution of the border controversy.
While I will always vote for peace in a region that has been plagued by a legacy of violence, poverty, drugs and human trafficking and the not too distant past of slavery and colonization, I am afraid that in this new era of Geo-power-politics, such pleading will fall on deaf ears…it is obvious that Maduro himself, who claims to be fighting against the old forces that supposedly drove his country on the verge of economic disaster, forces both old and new, he himself is making the classic mistake of further draining the last vestiges of strength from a very fragile nation for his own political ends… Again it is and will be the children of poor citizens who will die and fight a war for the greed of man…this will only end in disaster for all sides involved. Man has failed to learn from his forebears, failed to learn from history and failed to learn the lessons clearly written on the pages of the past. Indeed, we are both intelligent and at the same time stubbornly and ridiculously stupid…the two extremes on a spectrum….we are doomed and it appears the more technologically astute we become, the more efficient and sophisticated we become at annihilating each other…or if efficient and sophistication are rude one finger metaphor for self destruction and self flagellation. I do hope this is all filibustering by Maduro but history has countless examples the such filibusters often end up in a quagmire of perpetual disasters. A self fulfilling prophecy of ego jock scratching and hubris….
Venezuela and Guyana to ensure peaceful coexistence. … WDMC I reading here. There is no effing coexistence, there is no dispute, the VZ government is just laying claims for the steam that comes out of a pot. This is tin air substance, the VZ economy is non existence, the president is loose popularity and hence the present outcome. CARICOM put sanction for VZ let me see if you have any purpose.
Caricom is like an old derelict building standing with no purpose but talking, photo shows, traveling at poor countries expense, producing no solutions to man’s problems. Even the ancients like the Caribs and Arrowaks did a better job at integration than these educated puppets.
@C-WIZ: Your empty filibuster above has 3 possible explanations:
1. You’re out of your depth regarding the details behind the Venezuela-Guyana dispute (empty vessels making the most noise, and all that).
2. You’re a paid or unpaid agent of the US empire of lies; here to throw red herrings amongst the readers & keep them as far away from the truth as possible (much like the 3 stooges have been doing in Haiti to cover up US involvement).
3. The US (the big bully in the region & the world) set fire under this pot, and is using the WEF puppet, Ali, as a proxy, because their constant machinations against Venezuela have failed miserably. You are the cowardly sycophant (or house n!gg@), in the bully’s shadow, here to take the focus away from the him, sniveling in the corner, because Venezuela & the BRICS+ are punching him in the nose, daily!
@nudge…
You must be an utter idiot not to notice that despite the partially dormant issue between Venezuela and Guyana, it was Venezuela who instigated a referendum to annex part of Guyana. Your poor analytical skills proves your underdeveloped brain can’t observe this clear and obvious fact in this matter. You display what quite a few people exhibit… talking and critiquing way faster than your brain can think… Which synonymous to passing gas which was destined for your distal alimentary canal through your upper respiratory orifices. The smell must be unbearable…but then again those with bad breath can’t smell their own stink…other have to make them aware of it….I just did you a favour..
@C-WIZ, in nudge’s mind everything is the fault of the US. He/She enjoys their freedom to post nonsense everyday but would never get that sort of freedom in their BRICS fantasy land.
@C-WIZ: Let’s examine “analytical skills”-
Your (& the US lickspittles’) single data point in time: “…it was Venezuela who instigated a referendum to annex part of Guyana.”
Mine (covered in all my comments; multiple data points across 2+ centuries, in this forum, pertaining to the issue at hand”) – heavily contextual:
***(In the 19th century – culminating in the arbitration of 1899) The US acknowledged Venezuelan sovereignty over the Essequibo basin, but rigged the arbitration process in favor of Great Britain, in exchange for GB’s backing of its assertion of a contrived, assumed hegemony (via the Monroe Doctrine – “Might Makes Right”) over the western hemisphere.
***(In the 20th century – culminating in the 1966 Geneva Agreement [to reach an agreement]) The US acknowledged Venezuelan sovereignty over the Essequibo basin, and sponsored the agreement to reach an agreement in 1966, whereby it supported the rightful Venezuelan claim that the 1899 Arbitration was null & void. This US position was part of its rabid anti-communist policies (Burnham was regarded a communist sympathizer; look at the official name of Guyana – Co-operative Republic of Guyana) and racist antipathy towards a black-ruled republic.
At that time, also, the US counted the white oligarchs of Venezuela (over whom they had total economic control) as its allies (puppets, really), hence, their selfish reasons, revealed.
***(In the 21st century) After failed attempts at revolution, Chavez became the democratically-elected president of Venezuela in 1999. He immediately nationalized the oil & gas industry, thereby becoming the first democratically-elected official (in the world?) to fulfill his campaign promises. This did not sit well with the brand of capitalism practiced in the US, where the working class is exploited to point of of slavery!
Cue the many failed attempts to undo the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela (including the overthrow of Chavez), culminating in the “Bay of Piglets” invasion (using CIA mercenaries), which was stymied by a bunch of Venezuelan fishermen, no less. Just before this, attempts by the US to have Juan Guaido usurp the Venezuelan presidency were successfully repelled.
Since 2015, Russia & China have been kicking Yankee ass on the world stage, and significantly, have relegated the US to being an envious, helpless bystander in the Middle East (now you understand why they militarily & economically support the Palestinian genocide by the illegal, apartheid regime & state of Israel).
Hence, the US was forced to retrench their hegemonic hubris to the western hemisphere. They went begging on hands & knees to Venezuela for oil (needed to fuel their large surface fleet & their increasingly redundant 800+ military bases around the globe), but they were rebuffed!
But the US had one card to play: They still owned the CARICOM leaders (lock, stock & barrel), but the one they most favored was the WEF puppet, Ali, who was now president of Guyana. Just as they used Zelensky & Ukraine (albeit unsuccessfully) as a catspaw & proxy against Putin & Russia, they are using Ali & Guyana to be their proxy against Maduro & Venezuela (they are cowardly chicken-hawks after all). Exxon went in to drill in the disputed territories & the US is now making arrangements to erect a military base in the Essequibo hinterlands, to protect Exxon drilling sites & to be a forward base for anticipated incursions via Venezuela’s underbelly, to reclaim Venezuela’s oil & gas (the largest proven reserves in the world) as their own!
You now understand why Maduro, with the 97% backing of the Venezuelan people has taken active steps to protect the patrimony of Venezuela from the greedy clutches of the US empire of lies. The US played on the tacit greed of Ali & the Guyana electorate (& your gullibility, as well), by forcing them to drink the Kool-Aid, much like Jim Jones forced his followers to do in Jonestown (coincidentally, in the disputed Essequibo region, I kid you not), 45 years ago!
I leave you now, C-WIZ, to make your appropriate mental adjustments. If you choose instead to suffer butt-hurt in silence, I can, most kindly & promptly, ship you several cartons of Preparation-H!
@ Nudge
You seem to habour a chronic hatred for America and the west. Your long history lesson is obviously peppered with your particular brand of propaganda…and you even seem quite ok with the idea that Venezuela can just start a war with its neighbor Guyana by just annexing 60% of Guyana’s territory. Perhaps you don’t seem to understand the repercussions of this ill advised encroachment by Venezuela for the entire Caribbean region which is already struggling from a myriad of other socio-political issues…I won’t be surprised if you are a citizen of the United States enjoying all the freedoms ( whether you call it that or not doesn’t matter ) or a citizen of a Western country or a country that has wholely Western values. Here is a lesson for you Nudge, never sh*t where you eat and since you espouse the virtues of Brics+ so well perhaps you would fit nicely in their grand scheme of things. Perhaps you can migrate to one of their grand cities…mind you, even they too have their special brand of propaganda. Politics is a game of cunning, not that I have anything against the formation of Brics+ because any sovereign nation has a right to form any legal association with another sovereign nation or nations…but for you to pretend Venezuela has a right to start a war ( which no doubt that is what it will become if Maduro acts on his phoney referendum results) a war that is no doubt going to be catastrophic simple because you believe it’s American hegemony in the under workings of this geo-political quagmire, perhaps you will be ok with Saint Lucia being annexed by some country which came up with some ancient historical claims to this 238 square miles of rock…do yourself a favour and stop warmongering behind that screen talking sh*t.
@CWIZ, why are you wasting so much of your time on this person, you will not be able to change their mind.
@C-WIZ: Via all your posts, you reveal your complete revulsion of truth & history! Perhaps, you may just be fulfilling the terms of paid service to the US empire of lies. Perhaps, you are just an innocent victim of a lifetime of US propaganda, ingested daily from US mass media; whose goal is to infect its victims’ minds with the false concept of “American Exceptionalism”.
As a result, your only recourse is towards ad hominem attacks & false PFA (plucked from ass) narratives which have no bearing on the topic at hand.
@Oh Really: I see that you’ve eschewed my advice concerning pre-treatment of your mental condition (Dunning-Kruger Syndrome), manifest in your very own words, “…not be able to change their mind,” which you are now trying to project on to me.
Don’t delay, seek professional help now!
@C-WIZ: I gleaned just one single snippet of truth in your entire diatribe, above: “Politics is a game of cunning…”; but you neglected to elaborate on the rules of the game!
I will offer some specificity to make your turn of phrase axiomatic: Politics (as practiced in western “democracies”) is a game of cunning where professional shysters (politicians) extract sponsorship from crooked business-people in order to use their period of stewardship (electoral term) to transfer the collective wealth of their working-class constituents, legally (seemingly), to their sponsors & themselves!
Feel free to add to my definition.