FILE PHOTO: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro gestures during a meeting with Colombia's Ambassador to Venezuela Milton Rengifo (not pictured), at Miraflores Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela August 16, 2023. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/File Photo
KINGSTOWN, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Reuters) -Guyana and Venezuela on Thursday agreed to avoid any use of force and to not escalate tensions in their long-running dispute over the oil-rich Esequibo area after a meeting between their heads of state in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The 160,000-square-km (62,000-square-mile) region is generally recognized as part of Guyana, but in recent years Venezuela has revived its claim to the territory and to offshore areas after major oil and gas discoveries.
