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Added on the 14/12/2023 20:24:17 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his Guyanese counterpart Irfaan Ali begin talks in the Caribbean aimed at easing tensions over Caracas's claims on Guyana's oil-rich Essequibo region. IMAGES
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his Guyanese counterpart Irfaan Ali shake hands after a two-hour meeting in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. There was no immediate news on the outcome of talks about Caracas's claim on oil-rich Essequibo, which makes up more than two-thirds of neighboring Guyana. IMAGES
Polling stations open in Caracas as Venezuela presses ahead with a referendum that it hopes will strengthen its century-old claim to the oil-rich Essequibo territory controlled by neighbouring Guyana. Caracas contends that the Essequibo River to the east of the region is the natural border between the two countries, as declared in 1777 under Spanish rule, and that the United Kingdom wrongly appropriated Venezuelan lands in the 19th century. Guyana, however, asserts that the border was set in the British colonial era and was confirmed in 1899 by a court of arbitration. It says the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's top judicial body, has validated this finding. IMAGES
Guyanese Foreign Minister Hugh Hilton Todd and Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil meet in Brasilia to discuss the discuss the simmering crisis on their border over the disputed oil-rich Essequibo region. IMAGES
Venezuela and Guyana pledge not to resort to force to settle a long-simmering territorial dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region. The two nations have agreed "directly or indirectly will not threaten or use force against one another in any circumstances, including those consequential to any existing controversies between the two states," according to the joint statement read out by Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, where talks are taking place. SOUNDBITE