CARACAS, December 8. /TASS/. Venezuela’s Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has sharply criticized statements by top UK diplomat David Cameron who branded the country’s territorial dispute with Guyana as a "retrograde step."

"The only thing retrograde is the political, economic and social destitution to which they have plunged the UK, especially since Brexit, for which @David Cameron is directly responsible. A string of Prime Ministers with no popular backing whatsoever misgovern the UK," she wrote on the X social media platform (formerly Twitter).

Rodriguez stressed that Caracas will not "forget that they were direct authors of the fraudulent award to dispossess Venezuela of its territory [Guayana Esequiba] in collusion with the US. It is worth reminding them that they are also signatories of the [1966] Geneva Agreement, which they intend today to breach in order to validate the anachronistic dispossessing award and hand over the immense wealth to the transnationals, hand in hand with [Guyana’s] puppet government that occupies de facto the Essequibo!"

Earlier, Cameron, during his visit to the US, said that the UK and its allies and partners will not let Venezuela absorb the disputed region. Following his talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Cameron noted that the two had discussed the situation on the border between Venezuela and Guyana. "These borders were settled in 1899. I see absolutely no case for unilateral action by Venezuela," he asserted.

On December 6, Venezuela’s National Assembly (parliament) unanimously voted to pass the first reading of a bill of protection of Guayana Esequiba within Venezuela based on the results of an advisory referendum. The bill envisages creating Venezuela’s newest, 24th, state, Guayana Esequiba.

Venezuela and Guyana have been at odds over a 159,500-square-kilometer area west of the Essequibo River for more than 100 years. The territory, known as Guayana Esequiba, makes up more than two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 283,000 of the country’s population of little more than 800,000 residents.

The dispute escalated in 2015, when oil fields estimated to hold at least 10 bln barrels were discovered in the area and Guyana granted a concession to ExxonMobil for the development of oil fields on the non-delimited shelf. In September, seven more transnational companies, including China National Offshore Oil Corporation, QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies, were granted shelf development licenses by the Guyanese government.