GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Guyana government says it is concerned that Venezuela’s December 3 referendum could lay the groundwork for the annexation of the county of Essequibo, which Caracas has been claiming belongs to it.
In a statement, Georgetown said it has taken “careful note” of the issuance by the National Electoral Council of Venezuela of five questions to be asked in the national referendum.
It said among other questions, all of which are intended to further Venezuela’s “unlawful and unfounded claim to more than two-thirds of Guyana’s national territory, question five is the most pernicious.
Guyana said this “amounts to nothing less than the annexation of Guyana’s territory, in blatant violation of the most fundamental rules of the UN Charter, the OAS Charter and general international law.
“Such a seizure of Guyana’s territory would constitute the international crime of aggression,” the Irfaan Ali government said, adding that it “categorically rejects any attempt to undermine the territorial integrity of the sovereign State of Guyana.
Georgetown said that the ICJ has ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear this case. Guyana has repeatedly encouraged Venezuela to participate in the case.
Guyana said that it wants the international community to pay attention to “the actions being carried out by the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which have the potential to incite violence and to threaten the peace and security of the State of Guyana and by extension the Caribbean region”.
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