Mercosur asks Venezuela and Guyana to avoid “unilateral actions”

Members of Mercosur asked this Thursday (7) that Venezuela and Guyana avoid “unilateral actions” amid growing tension between the two countries for control of the Essequibo region, which Caracas intends to annex. The declaration was released at the end of the 63rd Summit of Heads of State of Mercosur and Associated States, held in Rio de Janeiro.

The bloc is made up of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, but Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru also signed the statement. The signatories expressed “their deep concern about the increase in tensions” between Venezuela and Guyana.

“Latin America must be a territory of peace and, in this case, work with all the tools of its long tradition of dialogue. In this context, they warn about unilateral actions that must be avoided, as they add tension, and urge both parties to dialogue and the search for a peaceful solution to the controversy, in order to avoid unilateral actions and initiatives that could worsen it”, highlighted the countries.

Dictator Nicolás Maduro embarked on a crusade to incorporate the Essequibo region into the Venezuelan map, an area of ​​160,000 square kilometers controlled by Guyana, rich in oil and minerals, and whose ownership Caracas has claimed for more than a century. After holding a referendum last Sunday (3), Maduro presented an action plan on the area, including the granting of licenses for oil exploration and the deployment of military personnel in cities close to the disputed area.

Sources from the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that all countries in the region are “exhausting all diplomatic channels” to “try to neutralize the situation” between the two countries. Earlier, in the plenary session of the Mercosur summit, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) declared that they “don’t want wars” in South America, “nor do they need conflicts”, but rather “peace”.