GUYANA President Irfaan Ali wants Venezuela to know that his country will not tolerate what he described as the latter's "unlawful and unfounded claims to more than two-thirds" of it.

Ali said Venezuela is trying to undermine Guyana's territorial integrity, and warned the move has the potential to incite violence and threaten peace in the Caribbean.

In a statement on Monday, Ali said his government had taken "careful note" of five questions issued by Venezuela's National Electoral Council, which are to be asked in the December 3 national referendum.

Among those questions, he said, is one that "brazenly seeks the approval of the Venezuelan people of the creation of a new Venezuelan State consisting of Guyana’s Essequibo region, which would be incorporated into the national territory of Venezuela, and the granting of Venezuelan citizenship to the population."

Ali said that is "nothing less" than an annexation of Guyana's territory and it is in "blatant violation of the most fundamental rules of the UN Charter, the OAS Charter and general international law.

"Such a seizure of Guyana’s territory would constitute the international crime of aggression."

He added, "The Government of Guyana categorically rejects any attempt to undermine the territorial integrity of the sovereign State of Guyana."

Ali said the idea that Essequibo region should be "created" into a state with Venezuela is abhorrent.

"Further, the government rejects the internationally unlawful act to put forward the ‘granting of citizenship and Venezuelan identity cards in accordance with the Geneva Agreement and international law.'"

"It is by way of the Geneva Agreement and the principles of international law that the question of the validity of the Arbitral Award of 1899 has been put before the International Court of Justice. That Court has ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear this case. Guyana has repeatedly encouraged Venezuela to participate in the case."

He said no government or person has the right in international law to seize, annexe or take the territory of another country.

"The Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana calls the attention of the international community to the actions being carried out by the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which have the potential to incite violence and to threaten the peace and security of the State of Guyana and by extension the Caribbean region."

In a statement in direct response to Ali, the Venezuelan government said Ali's comments were offensive.

It said his statement was "loaded with profound contempt for the Venezuelan people, its Bolivarian history and its right to express itself in a democratic manner, on matters of special national importance.

"Guyana's statements, once again, are being drafted by the law firm employed by Exxon Mobil, a company that has corrupted the Latin American and Caribbean values of this nation and has bought off the Guyanese political class, dragging them into erratic actions, contrary to the public international law, with t