2023-12-06 21:27:00
The dispute over the region of Essequibo tension escalated between Venezuela y Guyana, a territory rich in natural resources that is claimed by both countries as their own. This is a centuries-old conflict that once once more came to the fore with the referendum promoted by the government of Nicolás Maduro to “annex” that territory.
The conflict of sovereignty over the Essequibo, recognized by the international community, was subject to different negotiation instances that failed to put an end to a remnant of the European colonial era of the 19th century in Latin America. However, the discovery of natural resources in 2015 on the undelimited coasts, especially oil and gold, opened a new chapter in the conflict.
Venezuela intensified the territorial dispute with Guyana and started oil business
The escalation of tension began following Guyana approved the exploitation of its coasts for the benefit of six oil companies. Venezuela protested because they are “waters pending to be delimited.” As a corollary, a month later Maduro called a referendum to create a province in that territory, ignoring international law.
Guyana, for its part, denounced that this is an attempt to occupy the region, at a time when international institutions faltered following the Russian invasion of Vladimir Putin to Ukraine in 2022, and the subsequent annexation of the eastern cordon.
1. What is the Essequibo region
The region, similar in size to the Argentine province of Río Negro, is rich in natural and mineral resources and occupies two-thirds of the territory of Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America.
It also constitutes one third of the country in terms of population, since 300 of its 800 thousand inhabitants live there, in six of the ten regions of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
2. Why it is important
The importance of the territory lies in the vast reserves of gold, copper, diamond, iron, bauxite and aluminum minerals, the exploitation of which has triggered Guyana’s growth in recent years. The exponential growth of Guyana’s economy, which in 2022 closed at almost 58% growth, It also had to do with the oil reserves found on the disputed coasts, whose exploitation motivated the Venezuelan complaint prior to the referendum.
So much so that since 2015 there have been 46 discoveries, in the hands of multinationals such as the American Exxon and the French TotalEnergy, which led to the accumulation of 11 billion barrels of crude oil that in 2023 will gain another relevance in line with the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. East.
2. The origin of the territorial dispute
The main reason that Venezuela uses in international courts to claim the region is historical, given that it inherited the territory from Spain when it obtained its independence in 1811. The United Kingdom positioned itself as the colonial power in the region, following intervening in the independence processes of several countries. In that context, he signed a pact with the Netherlands, which owned what is now Suriname, to “acquire” more than 50,000 square kilometers towards Venezuela and thus expand its territory, then called British Guiana.
The western limit on the incipient Venezuelan republic, meanwhile, was defined unilaterally by the United Kingdom in 1840, known as the “Line Schomburgk”, which was even expanded in subsequent years, and British rule was firm in 1899 with the Paris arbitration, promoted by the United States. In 1940, a memorandum from the Venezuelan defense in the arbitration, composed by the American Severo Mallet-Prevost, was declassified, in which he denounced the impartiality of the judges and that the arbitration award had a political background.
Since then, Venezuela declared the arbitration void and reactivated its claim over the Essequibo. So much so that following granting independence to Guyana in 1966, the United Kingdom signed the Geneva Agreement in which it recognized the Venezuelan claim, which was sustained in international bodies and promoted by the UN, without concrete results.
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4. The effects of the 2023 referendum
The Maduro regime, meanwhile, promoted a strong campaign prior to the referendum vote in pursuit of “national union”, which on the Guyanese side was described as “war propaganda.” The popular consultation, meanwhile, was criticized by sectors of Maduro’s opposition, such as María Corina Machadobrand new representative of the Venezuelan opposition for the 2024 elections.
“The Venezuelans’ rejection of the referendum is towards Maduro and his regime, but let it be clear that Venezuelans know that Essequibo belongs to Venezuela and we are willing to defend ourselves and recover it.”
“It is time to put aside all biases, political, religious or personal,” said the president of the Venezuelan Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez.
The popular consultation was approved by 94% of the votes on December 3 and shortly following Maduro sent a law to create the province of Guayana Esequiba, give “social care” and Venezuelan citizenship to its 300,000 inhabitants.
In addition, he announced the creation of a “comprehensive defense zone” for the area, which involves the exploitation of resources. What was anticipated by the Venezuelan Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, prior to the referendum, when he published a video of Venezuelan troops parading, waving flags that say ‘Guyana Esequiba’, colored with the Venezuelan flag.
5. Guyana’s position
According to the Guyanese government, in Georgetown, Venezuela’s action threatens the territorial integrity of the country. If Bein asked the International Court of Justice to prevent the popular consultation, he did not succeed, and barely obtained a warning for Caracas.
Furthermore, he maintains that the popular consultation was an excuse to annex the territory. So much so that in the previous days, the Venezuelan Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, known for his ties to his counterparts in Russia and Iran, posted a video of Venezuelan troops parading, waving flags with the legend ‘Guayana Drowns’.
The Guyanese president, Irfan Ali, He called the Venezuelan government “reckless” and said his country plans to alert regional and world leaders regarding Maduro’s attempt to disrupt peace in the hemisphere. “It is regrettable that President Maduro has chosen the path of defying an order from an international court. This says a lot regarding the way President Maduro prefers to operate and also points to the fact that he does not care regarding the peace and security of this region,” he told The Miami Herald .
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