GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — The Government of Guyana on Monday said there is a “strong possibility” that hackers may have deliberately set out to change the configuration of the Guyana map showing the country without the Essequibo region during last weekend’s celebration of 52 years of political independence from Britain.

Guyana and Venezuela are engaged in a decades old border dispute and the matter has now been referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

But while Georgetown is in favour of the ICJ ruling on the matter, Caracas has said that it wants the UN Good Officers’ Process to have another go at peacefully finding a solution to the dispute.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not ruled out the strong possibility that this could be a cyber-attack and is looking into the matter,” the ministry said in a statement.

Copies of the maps first appeared on advertisements by American Home and Beauty Centre and later on the Facebook Page of Jobs GT and the website of the government-controlled Guyana Chronicle newspaper.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it wanted to express “deep concern” over the “disturbing image” that depicts Guyana without its known internationally recognised borders, insisting that the appearance of the map during the Independence period was not coincidental.

“This act which occurred on our 52nd Anniversary of Independence should serve as a sobering reminder that the threats to our territory remain real and dangerous. The ministry has noted with appreciation and pride the immediate and defensive responses by our citizens over this despicable image.

“The shape of Guyana’s 83,000 square miles is unmistakable. From the dawn of our independence to this day, we have spared no effort to preserve our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added.