Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is set to talk with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday over Caracas' rights in a century-old territorial dispute with Guyana, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said Monday.

Maduro planned to travel to the United Nations headquarters in New York late Monday for a special meeting with Ban to "defend Venezuela after the recent aggressions by the new government of Guyana," said the minister.

"The secretary-general, who will also defend Venezuela's rights over the Essequibo territory, will receive first-hand information from our president," said Rodriguez in a Twitter post.

Rodriguez said Maduro "guarantees peace and the legitimate rights of Venezuelans" over this issue that has caused political tension between Caracas and Georgetown over the last few weeks after U.S. transnational oil giant Exxon Mobil made an offshore discovery.

Rodriguez met with Ban on July 10 to deliver him a letter from Maduro regarding this issue.

Maduro has recently denounced the current impasse with Georgetown as part of a campaign against Caracas headed by Exxon Mobil and political groups in Washington.

The controversy that centers on the lands west of the Essequibo River of Guyana, covering about two thirds of the small English-speaking nation, has escalated after Exxon Mobil's discovery.

The dispute stems from an 1899 court ruling that required Venezuela to relinquish an undeveloped but resource-rich jungle territory called the Essequibo, which constitutes about two thirds of Guyanese territory.

Caracas contends the ruling was invalid after a treaty was signed in 1966 with Guyana and its former colonial power, Britain. Endi

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