A GROUP of concerned Guyanese citizens yesterday staged a protest outside the Venezuelan Embassy in Georgetown, in the wake of the May 27 decree issued by Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro extending his country’s claim to Guyana’s territorial waters.

A map accompanying the decree shows that the claim includes the area where the U.S. oil company, ExxonMobil found a significant oil deposit last month.
Among the protestors was leader of the Independent Party, Mark Benschop, who held a placard which said: “Oil of Guyana is we own”, while other protestors had placards declaring: “Not a blade of grass…”, and “It is time for them (Venezuelans) to choose a new President.”
Moreover, the protestors urged the Guyana Government to take a more thorough approach in dealing with the issue, given the fact that diplomatic attempts in the past seemingly proved futile.
The issue of Venezuela’s claim was settled by an international arbitral tribunal which sat in Paris in 1899. The boundary which was laid down in that award has been internationally recognised since that time.