Venezuela urges Guyana to resist external meddling in Essequibo dispute

Venezuela has called on Guyana to reject outside interference in their simmering dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region, as the countries' foreign ministers met for talks.

"Let us flatly reject the possibility of third parties interfering in or benefiting from any debate or dispute between Guyana and Venezuela," Foreign Minister Yvan Gil told his Guyanese counterpart on Thursday at the talks in Brazil aimed at reducing tensions.

"We agree on the need to continue... through diplomatic channels," he said.

Guyanese Foreign Minister Hugh Todd expressed confidence that the next meeting will bring "real advances."

He added his nation was committed to allowing the International Court of Justice to offer a solution to the dispute.

The comment came after the territorial dispute escalated last month when the US held joint military exercises with Guyana and Britain sent a warship to Guyanese waters.

Venezuela launched a "defensive" military deployment in response.

Centuries-old dispute

Venezuela's century-old claim on Essequibo has been revived since massive offshore oil deposits were discovered in the region, and Guyana began handing out licenses to oil companies to operate there.

Maduro's government held a referendum on December 3 in which 95 percent of voters, according to officials, supported declaring Venezuela the rightful owner of Essequibo.

He has since started legal manoeuvres to create a Venezuelan province in Essequibo and ordered the state oil company to issue licenses for extracting crude in the region.

Guyana, a former British and Dutch colony, insists the Essequibo frontiers were determined by an arbitration panel in 1899.

But Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region's east forms a natural border recognised as far back as 1777.