Venezuela-Guyana Tensions Flare Over Oil-Rich Waters

Mexico City, Mexico, March 3, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Caracas rejected Guyanese accusations over an alleged incursion by a Venezuelan Navy vessel in the oil-rich waters of the Essequibo region. 

Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali accused a Venezuelan naval patrol of approaching an oil facility linked to ExxonMobil’s drilling operations in the disputed offshore area. 

Venezuela responded via a statement on Saturday that instead claimed the territorial waters are not Guyanese but rather a “maritime zone pending delimitation in accordance with international law.”

“Venezuela categorically repudiates the unfounded statements of the President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, who blatantly lies by claiming that units of the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela are violating Guyana’s maritime territory,” read the communique. 

Ali said he had summoned the Venezuelan ambassador and instructed Guyana’s embassy to lodge a formal protest with the Venezuelan government. In a televised address, he called the incursion “a matter of grave concern.”

Caracas accused the Guyanese president of deliberately escalating the ongoing controversy over the Essequibo, comparing him to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who recently made headlines after clashing with US President Donald Trump inside the White House. 

“The statements of Irfaan Ali, the Caribbean Zelensky, are full of inaccuracies, falsehoods and contradictions, in his eagerness to disrupt the peace and tranquility of our region by sowing a dangerous conflict,” said the Nicolás Maduro government in its statement.

The US State Department weighed in on the matter, siding with Georgetown and calling the disputed waters “Guyana’s internationally-recognized maritime territory” before threatening Venezuela.

“Further provocation will result in consequences for the Maduro regime.” read a post by the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs published on Saturday. Washington also reiterated its support for an 1899 arbitration ruling that awarded the 160,000 square-kilometer territory to the United Kingdom, Guyana’s former colonial power.

Venezuelan authorities have repeatedly denounced a US-backed increased militarization of the region, including joint military drills between Guyanese forces and the US Southern Command.

The Maduro government, following its predecessors, has a longstanding position that the 1966 Geneva Agreement remains the only mechanism to solve the two-century-old border controversy. The accord establishes that the two countries must reach a mutually agreeable settlement to the two-century-old border issue. 

The resource-rich, sparsely populated Essequibo Strip is presently administered by Guyana. 

The latest diplomatic spat follows a recent armed clash in the disputed region that saw six members of the Guyanese Defense Forces (GDF) wounded in a reported firefight with an armed group. Caracas likewise accused Ali of manipulating the incident for political ends.

According to Venezuelan authorities, people involved in illegal mining activities in the Essequibo territory were attacked by Guyanese soldiers, resulting in several wounded that are being treated in Venezuelan territory.

In response to these recent incidents, Venezuela said it would invoke the December 2023 “Argyle Mechanism” that established a dialogue mechanism between the two Caribbean nations. The Maduro government says the protocol “represents the spirit of the Geneva Agreement” while also reaffirming its claim over the disputed strip and territorial waters.

The sovereignty over the Essequibo region is currently the subject of International Court of Justice (ICJ) proceedings after Guyana requested that the court enforce the 1899 arbitration ruling. Venezuela has rejected the court’s jurisdiction over the matter but has presented its defense.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.