— By MOHAMED HAMALUDIN
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and opposition forces got together in August to work out an accord which would hopefully ease international sanctions in a country with the largest oil reserves and one of the worst economic slumps.
The meeting took place in Norway – the second in two years–and participants managed to unite on one issue which had nothing to do with sanctions: a 180-year-old claim to “the historic and inalienable rights of Venezuela over the territory of Essequibo.”
That territory is two-thirds of Guyana, whose government said it “firmly rejects the agreement [as] an overt threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana,” adding, “Guyana cannot be used as an altar of sacrifice for settlement of Venezuela’s internal political differences.” The opposition APNU+AFC Coalition affirmed the country’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The government and the opposition noted the issue is before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the latest stage of a dispute which began in 1841 involving two wholly unequal neighbors. Continue reading
