Simmering tensions over Essequibo, which each of the neighbours claims as its own, were further inflamed earlier this month, when Guyana denounced what it said was an incursion of a Venezuelan military vessel in its waters.
The Venezuelan Armed Forces denied that an incursion took place and Maduro requested a meeting with Ali.
“We are not going to go into any discussion with Venezuela when they are blatantly disregarding the Argyle (declaration),” said Ali.
He was referring to an agreement he signed with Maduro in Dec 2023 at the Argyle International Airport in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, in which both agreed to avoid any use of force “directly or indirectly” in their border dispute.
The long-running squabble was revived in 2015 after US energy giant ExxonMobil discovered huge crude reserves in Essequibo and reached fever pitch in 2023 when Georgetown started auctioning off oil blocks in the region.
The find gave Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world.
Maduro, a loyal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has accused Ali of entering into a “war spiral”, describing him as the “Zelensky of the Caribbean” in reference to the Ukrainian leader.
A year ago, the parliament in Caracas approved a bill to make Essequibo Venezuela’s 24th state, a move rejected as invalid by Guyana and other nations.
Venezuela has subsequently announced it would include the region in gubernatorial elections on May 25 – prompting Guyana to approach the UN’s highest court for relief.
Guyana said on Tuesday that it expelled a group of 75 Venezuelans, including children, who were discovered on a boat intercepted near the disputed region.
Guyana, a small English-speaking former British and Dutch colony, insists Essequibo’s frontiers were determined by an arbitration panel in 1899.
But, Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region’s east forms a natural border recognised as far back as 1777.
Essequibo makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens.