6 On February 6, 2024, the Primakov Center participated in a video conference of the Center for Financial Studies of the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the topic “Territorial Dispute Between Venezuela and Guyana: External and Internal Political Projection.”
In the current global order, any contradictions and territorial disputes between states have the potential to escalate into armed mechanisms. This is not only characteristic of the situation in Europe or the East, but also on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In the fall of 2023, there was a major escalation of tensions between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Cooperative Republic of Guyana over the disputed territory of Guyana-Essequibo.
At the scientific seminar “Territorial Dispute Between Venezuela and Guyana: External and Internal Political Projection,” the acting director of the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dmitry Rozental, presented a report. The scientist noted that the process of normalizing relations between the two countries only began after Hugo Chávez came to power in Venezuela in 1999. Caracas put forward a project for joint economic development of the disputed territory, the construction of a cosmodrome in Essequibo, and Hugo Chávez even completed a state visit to Georgetown in 2004. However, many joint projects remained unrealized.
As a result of the discussions, the position was put forward that the current escalation is not solely linked to the actions of one player, but is a complex interplay of both internal and evolving policies of the two countries.
