The deputy of the National Assembly in Venezuela, Luis Eduardo Martínez, says he has stated time and again that as far as the Bolivarian Republic is concerned, “nothing is more important than preserving the peace” warning that it would be a colossal mistake to provoke armed conflict with neighbouring Guyana.
“To incite armed confrontation against a neighbour backed today by a long list of countries and powerful interest is truly ignorant of the ‘art of war’ and would lead us to a tragedy far greater than the one we are already suffering,” Martínez said in an institutional press release published by Venezuela’s news site tanetanae.com on Tuesday.
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While pointing to the upcoming presidential elections in Venezuela and condemning any attempts to remove the ruling party through non-electoral means, Martínez denounced what he described as the “multifaceted challenges facing Venezuela – a combination of internal strife, failed ideologies, external sanctions, and socio-political turmoil – that have contributed to the nation’s collective distress.”
The politician noted that ‘recovering the Essequibo’ – a region that belongs to Guyana, as decided in an 1899 arbitral award – is ‘possible’, but warned, “May madness and radicalism not separate us from the path that together we can walk in peace.”
Politicians in Venezuela, including Nicolas Maduro’s main challenger in the upcoming presidential elections, María Corina Machado, have withheld support for annexation of the Essequibo region and the use of force against Guyana.
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“It is a mistake that not only does not contribute to the defense of our territory, but it can also harm us before our defense in the International Court of Justice,” Machado said in reference to a referendum held on Sunday which sought popular support to annex the Essequibo region.
