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U.S. oil giant adds fuel to Guyana-Venezuela dispute: LatAm legislator

Xinhua, June 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil is stirring up an old territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana for its own gain, President of the Latin American Parliament Angel Rodriguez said Tuesday.

Rodriguez, representing Venezuela at the regional legislative body, accused the oil giant of pursuing its own interests by stoking a border conflict that dates back to some 100 years.

"It is Exxon Mobil that is generating the dispute, that is influencing the government of Guyana," Rodriguez told Venezuela's privately-owned TV channel Globovision.

The company, backed by powerful U.S. interests, expects to appropriate area oil deposits to supply the U.S. military industrial complex, he said.

"Its main role is to guarantee the supply of fuel for that war machine," said Rodriguez, recommending that the Venezuelan government take a diplomatic stance that steers clear of confrontation with Guyana.

The territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela on the area of Essequibo in the Guiana region on the north coast of South America is a long-run problem inherited from colonial powers.

An international arbitration gave Britain rights to the Essequibo in 1899, but Venezuela challenged the ruling in 1966, upon Guyana's independence from Britain.

After a few military confrontations during the 1960s and the 1970s, the dispute has been properly managed and controlled. But a new round of debate resurfaced recently as Exxon Mobil revealed its plan to start an offshore drilling near the area. Endi