Guyana and Venezuela agree to refrain from using force, but fail to resolve territorial dispute

By BERT WILKINSON and DÁNICA COTO
Associated Press

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) — The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela have promised in a tense meeting that neither side will use threats or force against the other, but failed to reach agreement on how to address a bitter dispute over a vast border region rich with oil and minerals. Instead, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said a joint commission composed of the foreign ministers of both countries and other officials will address the problem. Tension over the border region of Essequibo was recently reignited with the discovery of oil in Guyana and escalated when Venezuela’s citizens voted in a Dec. 3 referendum to claim two-thirds of their smaller neighbor.