CARICOM yesterday called on Venezuela to withdraw those elements of its controversial maritime decree that apply to the territory and waters of Guyana and other CARICOM member countries but there was no forthright condemnation which analysts see as a balancing act due to Caracas’s PetroCaribe fund and other aid facilities.
In the aftermath of the May 26th decree – Guyana’s independence anniversary – which sought to appropriate the lion’s share of this country’s Atlantic waters in a continuation of a decades-old policy, Georgetown had said publicly that it was expecting a strong response from Caricom. Yesterday’s statement following its July 2-4 Heads of Government meeting
