VOA News | Thursday, December 14, 2023 
Guyana, Venezuela Leaders Meet as Region Pushes to Defuse Territorial Dispute

KINGSTOWN, ST. VINCENT — The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela landed in St. Vincent and the Grenadines for a tense meeting Thursday as regional nations sought to defuse a long-standing territorial dispute that escalated when Venezuelans voted in a referendum to claim two-thirds of their smaller neighbor. Pushed by regional partners, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro agreed to meet at the Argyle International Airport on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent. The prime ministers of Barbados, Dominica and Trinidad and Tobago said they also would attend. Ali arrived first, with Maduro arriving shortly afterward. The Venezuelan president spoke to reporters briefly before the meeting. “I am pleased that the community of Latin American and Caribbean states and Caricom have managed to take this step, and we will make the most of it so that our Latin America and the Caribbean remains a zone of peace,” Maduro said. Caricom is an acronym for the Caribbean Community organization…Read more