Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union – the G7 – today condemned Venezuelan aggression in Guyana’s waters.
In their statement issued following their March 12 to 14, 2025 meeting in Charlevoix, Canada, the ministers said “We also agreed Venezuelan naval vessels threatening Guyana’s commercial vessels is unacceptable and an infringement of Guyana’s internationally recognized sovereign rights. We reaffirmed respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations as an enduring value”.
On March 1st , a Venezuelan coastguard boat motored through Guyana’s waters off the Demerara coast and harassed oil extraction assets working for ExxonMobil triggering an explicit warning from the US about consequences if there is a recurrence.
The incursion occurred around 7 am and hours later the US State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs issued the following statement on X (formerly Twitter).
“Venezuelan naval vessels threatening ExxonMobil’s floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit is unacceptable and a clear violation of Guyana’s internationally-recognized maritime territory. Further provocation will result in consequences for the Maduro regime. The United States reaffirms its support for Guyana’s territorial integrity and the 1899 arbitral award”, the statement read.
That the G7 has taken the matter up will be seen as a significant boost for Guyana and would likely have been pressed for particularly by the United States.
The G7 also called for a restoration of democracy in Venezuela.
“We reiterated our call for the restoration of democracy in Venezuela in line with the aspirations of the Venezuelan people who peacefully voted on July 28, 2024, for change, the cessation of repression and arbitrary or unjust detentions of peaceful protestors including youth by Nicolas Maduro’s regime, as well as the unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners”, the statement said.
