GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana’s government formally protested Saturday to Venezuela following the completion by Venezuelan forces of a bridge built on a remote river island shared by both countries. Work on the bridge, which connects mainland Venezuela to a military base, has reignited a decades-long row over border lines in the Essequibo region.
Guyanese Foreign Minister Hugh Todd said in a statement that he was forced to summon Venezuelan Ambassador Amador Perez Silva to his office on Thursday to condemn Venezuela’s initiative to build the bridge.
The bridge connects mainland Venezuela with the eastern side of Ankoko Island. The ministry claims the bridge connects the Venezuelan mainland to a small military base that Venezuela illegally built on the Guyanese side of Ankoko, a small island inhabited largely by gold miners and military personnel.
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The two neighboring states have feuded over land and maritime borders for decades, with Venezuela claiming an 1890s border commission cheated the country out of the oil-rich Essequibo region. The region currently covers two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. The area was governed by Britain for over a century and has been under Guyanese control since 1966, when the country gained independence from Britain.
Last year, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro threatened to annex the region by force, following a referendum in which Venezuelan voters were asked whether Essequibo should be turned into a Venezuelan state. But Caribbean leaders, Brazil and the UN organized an emergency summit between the presidents of both countries on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, where they agreed to resolve the dispute peacefully and not take actions that would increase tensions.
On Thursday, Todd said Venezuela’s decision to build the bridge on Ankoko Island violated the St. Vincent Agreement.
“Venezuela’s activities, including military activities east of the border line, are contrary to Guyana’s sovereignty, and international law requires that they be halted and that all personnel, facilities or equipment built there by Venezuela or brought, will be removed,” the ministry said.
Guyana has argued the case at the World Court in the Netherlands for a final settlement and recently submitted its final piece of evidence to the court. Venezuela has until August to respond.
