Venezuelan Parliament debates draft law on Guayana Esequiba

The National Assembly (Parliament) of Venezuela will debate the Organic Law for the Defense of Guayana Esequiba, the head of Parliament Jorge Rodríguez announced.

During the notification on Monday to President Nicolás Maduro of the beginning of the fourth term of the Legislative Branch, the deputy stated that this Tuesday the analysis of the bill will be carried out “in order to have this law approved in a peremptory term.”

The head of state celebrated that Parliament made the decision to advance the final approval of the Organic Law of Guayana Esequiba.

The National Assembly approved the regulations on December 6th with the unanimous vote of parliamentarians from the ruling party and the opposition benches.

In a meeting of the General Assembly of the Federal Council of Government with the participation of the Council of State and the Defense Council of the Nation, Maduro explained that once the bill has been passed it will allow the creation of the state of Guayana Esequiba and the execution of a group of decisions.

During the presentation of the bill in the chamber, the leader of the Homeland Bloc, Diosdado Cabello, stated that the law will guarantee the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Venezuela and will establish mechanisms to defend Essequibo, a territory of almost 160 thousand square kilometers being disputed with Guyana.

The Venezuelan president and his Guyanese counterpart, Irfaan Alí, held a face-to-face meeting in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on December 14th, sponsored by the Caribbean Community and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States to solve differences over the territory.

During the meeting, both leaders agreed in a joint declaration on their commitment to the search for good neighborliness, peaceful coexistence, and the unity of Latin America and the Caribbean, and agreed that both States will abstain, whether in word or deed, from escalating any conflict or disagreement arising from any controversy between them.