Guyanese soldier wounded in border gunfight with armed men in Venezuela

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A Guyanese soldier was wounded following a gunfight with armed men in Venezuela along the shared border, authorities said.

The Guyana Defense Force said in a statement that a patrol vessel on the Cuyuni River came under fire late Friday.

Venezuela’s government issued a statement on Saturday accusing Guyana of manipulation and of “fabricating a false narrative” with the objective of “playing the victim.”

The incident is the latest of several bloody clashes in recent years as tensions remain high over Venezuela’s claim to two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. A previous attack wounded eight Guyanese soldiers.

The two countries appeared earlier this month before the International Court of Justice in The Hague for arguments in a dispute over a 62,000-square-mile (160,000-square-kilometer) territory that is rich in gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources. It’s also located near major offshore oil deposits currently producing an average 900,000 barrels a day.

Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez told judges in The Hague that political negotiations and not a judicial ruling will resolve the century-old dispute.

Venezuela considers Essequibo its territory because the region was within its boundaries during the colonial period. It claims that a 1966 Geneva agreement among Venezuela, Britain and then-British Guiana — now Guyana — nullified a border drawn in 1899 by international arbitrators.