Venezuela categorically rejects the act of usurpation of Guyana in maritime areas to be delimited

Published at: 13/03/2026 10:41 AM

Venezuela categorically rejects a new attempt by the Cooperative Republic of Guyana to distort and ignore the rights of the Latin American nation over pending waters to be delimited, in a clear act of usurpation of maritime areas.

In an official statement published by the Foreign Minister of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Yván Gil, on his Telegram channel, the Bolivarian Government demands that Guyana abandon its high-sounding narrative and return to the only valid way to address this controversy: direct talks between the two States.

Below is the full text of the statement:

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically rejects the statements made by the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, regarding its illegal action in undelimited waters, which constitute a new attempt to distort and disregard Venezuela's rights over pending waters to be delimited between the two nations, an act of usurpation of maritime areas that adds to its behavior of ignorance of the Geneva Agreement of 1966, relating to the controversy over space terrestrial Guiana Essequiba.

Guyana and Venezuela share an extensive maritime zone that, to date, remains pending delimitation, as both governments have expressly recognized on several occasions, including through the joint statement of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of September 30, 2011.

In accordance with generally recognized principles of international law and the law of the sea, the delimitation of maritime spaces between States with adjacent coasts requires

an agreement between the parties and cannot be determined unilaterally by one of them. Guyana cannot point to a single instrument in which Venezuela has ceded or consented to the usurpation of maritime spaces.

Consequently, any activity of exploration, prospecting or disposal of natural resources in such spaces constitutes a unilateral act with no legal basis, which cannot generate rights vis-à-vis the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, while violating the fundamental principles of international law of good faith, cooperation and good neighbourliness.

Venezuela will not tolerate Guyana taking it for granted that the pending sea to be delimited belongs to it and, as a result, illegally dares to exploit existing resources in that region, generate environmental damage and manufacture commercial, civil or military navigation rights.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reiterates that it will continue to adopt all measures at its disposal to defend its territorial integrity and sovereign rights, within the framework of international law and demands that the government of Guyana desist from its high-sounding narrative, assuming that the only way to address this situation is direct talks between the two states.

Mazo News Team