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No kidding.

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When Chavez starts something, I expect it will be by taking Guyana.

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Venezuela calls for end to Guyana border dispute

Pro-government Venezuelan lawmakers have called for a peaceful end to a century-old border dispute with neighboring Guyana, under which it claims some three-quarters of the former British colony.

The legislators visited settlements on the border with Guyana on Saturday to sign a declaration supporting President Hugo Chavez' position that a 1899 treaty giving a mineral-rich region called Esequibo to Guyana was "null and provocative."

The declaration also urged both nations to work for a swift solution to the dispute which would be "just, long-lasting and acceptable."

"We held a special session of the parliamentary Defense Committee and then we signed the document," legislator Saul Ortega told Reuters on Sunday.

Over the past two years, Chavez's nationalist administration has revived the border controversy over Esequibo, a sparsely inhabited jungle region of some 63,600 square miles (159,000 square km) in eastern Guyana.

During his weekly radio talk show "Hello President" on Saturday, Chavez pledged cooperation "with Guyana and with all the people which live in that immense territory."

"This cannot remain in limbo for much longer, we have to solve this situation," said Chavez, after talking by telephone with National Assembly President William Lara who headed the delegation.

Lara, a staunch Chavez supporter, insisted that "we do not have a hostile stance. This is not an unfriendly gesture toward Guyana or anyone."

In recent weeks, Chavez has also strongly defended Venezuela's sovereignty over a tiny island, the Isla de Aves, amid criticism from eastern Caribbean nations.

The desert island, which is only inhabited part of the year, lies some 350 miles (565 km) north of Venezuela's coast.

Source: sohu.com
Published: July 23, 2001