Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro sparked global concerns after he produced a new map of his country which included two-thirds of neighbouring Guyana.
Citizens in Venezuela were asked on December 3 whether Caracas should pursue its long-standing claim to the Essequibo region of Guyana and if they agreed with providing the population in the contended area with Venezuelan citizenship as well as “incorporating that state into the map of Venezuelan territory”.
Only two days after the Maduro-controlled Venezuelan National Electoral Council claimed 95 per cent of voters approved a move on the 160,000km2 oil-rich swath of Guyanese jungle, Mr Maduro showed off a new map of his country and appointed General Alexis Rodríguez Cabello as head of the region.
On December 6, he also proposed a bill to officially create a Venezuelan province in a disputed area. Among other measures, the legislation includes an order to Venezuela’s companies to begin mining and oil extraction operations in Essequibo.
Venezuela has been claiming Essequibo, which happens to be particularly oil-rich, as its own since the border with Guyana was drawn up in the 19th century.
The referendum was called at a time Mr Maduro, whose re-election in 2018 has been contested as fraudulent by several nations including the US and the UK, is facing a newly unified opposition in his country.
In the wake of the referendum, Guyana President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali highlighted the “direct threat” to his country’s territorial integrity in a concerned statement.
It also read: “Guyana views this as an imminent threat to its territorial integrity and will intensify precautionary measures to safeguard its territory. I have tonight spoken to the Secretary General of the United Nations and several leaders alerting them of these dangerous developments and the desperate actions of President Maduro that fly in the face of international law and constitute a grave threat to international peace and security.”
The International Court of Justice in The Hague has been discussing where the region’s borders should lie, and two days before the referendum it had ordered Venezuela to “refrain from taking any action which would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute”.
The escalation of regional tensions and Mr Maduro’s current political struggle have increased fears he will not stop short of military action to enforce the result of the referendum – the turnover of which was reportedly low.
Mr Maduro is a close ally of Vladimir Putin and reinforced their bond in March 2022, days after the illegal invasion of Ukraine was launched by Russia, when he announced Venezuela would continue to back Moscow and condemned a supposed Western campaign of “lies and disinformation”.
Guyana insists the Essequibo frontiers were determined by an arbitration panel in 1899, while Venezuela claims the Essequibo River forms a natural border recognised as far back as 1777.
The Essequibo territory is home to 125,000 of Guyana’s 800,000 citizens.
Guyana is the third-smallest sovereign state by area in mainland South America. While it is one of the least densely populated countries on the planet, it is home to a large variety of natural habitats and a very high biodiversity.
First a Dutch colony, Guyana gained independence from Britain in 1966 and remains the only English-speaking nation in South America.
