VENEZUELA is asking the UN to mediate in a dispute with neighbouring Guyana over maritime drilling rights, Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said yesterday.

The announcement came after Venezuela threatened to cancel an oil-for-rice deal with Guyana and buy produce from Suriname instead.

For the past four years Venezuela has bought about 40 per cent of Guyana’s rice production in exchange for oil that amounts to about half of Guyana’s daily supply needs.