GEORGETOWN, Guyana — A Guyanese soldier was wounded following a gunfight with armed men in Venezuela that occurred along their shared border, authorities said.
The Guyana Defense Force said in a statement that a patrol vessel on the Cuyuni River came under fire late Friday.
It is the latest of several bloody clashes in recent years as tensions remain high over Venezuela’s claim to two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. One previous attack wounded eight Guyanese soldiers.
The two countries appeared earlier this month before the International Court of Justice in The Hague for arguments in a dispute over a 62,000-square-mile (160,000-square-kilometer) territory that is rich in gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources. It’s also located near massive offshore oil deposits currently producing an average 900,000 barrels a day.
Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez has told judges in The Hague that political negotiations and not a judicial ruling will resolve the century-old dispute.
Venezuela considers Essequibo its territory because the region was within its boundaries during the colonial period. It argues that a 1966 Geneva agreement among Venezuela, Britain and then-British Guiana, now Guyana, nullified a border drawn in 1899 by international arbitrators.
