A Venezuelan lawyer has moved to court to challenge the statement by President Hugo Chavez that his government would not oppose any project in Essequibo that would benefit the people who reside there.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jesus Arnaldo Perez has clarified the nature of the projects to which Chavez was referring - education, potable water and agricultural production - but has said that the government in Caracas would not recognize any Essequibo concession granted by Guyana to a transnational company, including an oil company.

According to the Venezuelan daily El Universal, the attorney, Herman Escarra, has petitioned the Venezuelan Sup-reme Court "to rule, correct and suspend the effect that the 'lamentable, anti-patriotic, grave and shameful declarations' of President Chavez may have on the Essequibo claim."

The lawyer is aggrieved by Chavez's statement in Georgetown that his government would not oppose projects in the Essequibo that would benefit the inhabitants, including those pertaining to water, agriculture, roads, communications and energy.

El Universal reported Escarra as saying that as a result of Chavez's statement, "Venezuela has shunted aside the Geneva Accord and the Good Officer Process..."

He maintained that constitutional theory was clear, and that political actions did not enjoy immunity, even when committed by the head of state. He said he considered the country to be in a state of "constitutional delinquency" because what had been violated was not only the position of Venezuela with regard to the unchangeable policy of vindicating (rights) over Essequibo, but also several articles of the constitution.

However, the daily reported Venezuela Foreign Minister Perez as saying that a fundamental aspect of policy was not to recognize any concession Guyana gave in Essequibo to transnational firms like oil companies. He reiterated that the Chavez administration would not oppose development projects in Essequibo which benefited the Guyanese people. He was quoted as commenting that "some experts" were trying to confuse the situation. "What we are trying to do is to unblock a situation," he explained, adding that "if left the way it is, it will become a no-man's land, an ideal place for terrorism, drug trafficking, illegal mining, etc."

The report went on to quote him as observing that with the "gesture of President Chavez, we are going to win over everyone, and that does not prevent us from continuing our discussion on our differences. In this we will devote the time needed through the UN, but we cannot leave the area [Essequibo] in a situation of no assistance."

This did not mean retiring the territorial claim, Perez continued, it just meant advancement for both peoples. "A false nationalism is being peddled," he said, "and they want to use any stick to beat the dog."

Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally said after Chavez's visit that Guyana had made no agreement that fettered its sovereignty over the Essequibo.

When Chavez visited Guyana last week, he left behind a militant campaign connected to a recall referendum on his presidency. In a speech to parliamentarians and civic leaders during his visit, he said that in the past the border controversy and the threat of another Cuba had been used to whip up anti-Guyana feeling in the Venezuelan military so as to provoke a war between the two countries.