evidence: Named Isla de Aves in Spanish, (meaning Island of the Birds) Aves Island , situated at 15°40'42"N and 63°36'47" W, lies west of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, about 665 Km of the coast of Venezuela. A submerged fringing coral reef surrounds it. [...] Venezuela currently controls Aves, and claims that it is an island, potentially giving it a sizable extension of its EEZ in the central Caribbean Sea. Since 1978, Venezuela has maintained a permanently staffed scientific station on Aves built on large pilings and protected by a small naval contingent. As a result, the island might be said to sustain human habitation, but it certainly does not do so on the basis of its own resources. [...] Rangels historical assertion was questionable, since American guano collectors occupied the island periodically in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The United States subsequently dropped all claims to the islet, and in 1978 acknowledged Venezuelan control over both Aves and its marine environs. The United States gave full effect to Aves Islands in the Maritime Boundary Treaty between the United States and Venezuela of March 28, 1978, 23 U.S.T. 3100; in doing so, the United States recognized Venezuelas right to claim an EEZ from Aves Island.