2023-12-03T18:00:00+00:00
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/ On Sunday, Venezuelans began casting their votes in a referendum that Caracas hopes will strengthen its century-old demands to annex the oil-rich Essequibo region, which is under the administration of neighboring Guyana.
Banners placed on walls in the streets of Caracas, as part of the intensified campaign by the government of President Nicolas Maduro, read: “Essequibo is ours!”
After casting his vote at a military site, Maduro said, “Today we vote as Venezuela, with one color and feeling. We vote for Venezuela to be respected.” In turn, 68-year-old Mariela Camero said, “We are confident that Essequibo is ours.
This has always been the case.” Voting stations opened at 06:00 local time (10:00 GMT) and are scheduled to close at 18:00.
As for the results, they are expected to be released in the early hours of Monday morning. The Maduro government confirmed that it is not looking for an excuse to invade or annex the vast region, as some fear in Guyana, which was a British colony.
Regardless of the outcome of the referendum in which about 20 million Venezuelans are eligible to cast their votes, there will be no significant change in the short term.
Essequibo residents will not vote as the referendum is non-binding. But tensions have been rising steadily since Guyana organized tenders in September for several offshore oil exploration blocks and after a major new discovery was announced in October.
The region’s oil reserves are similar to those in Kuwait, as oil reserves are considered the highest per capita in the world.
Venezuela has been claiming sovereignty over the region for decades, knowing that its area of 160,000 square kilometers represents more than two-thirds of the area of Guyana, while its population of 125,000 constitutes a fifth of the total population in Guyana.
Caracas asserts that the Essequibo River, located east of the region, represents the natural border between the two countries as declared in 1777 under Spanish rule, and that the United Kingdom wrongly acquired Venezuelan lands in the nineteenth century.
But Guyana confirms that the borders were established during the British colonial era, and were confirmed by an arbitration court in 1899. It says that the International Court of Justice, which is the highest international judicial body, ratified this conclusion.
Guyana asked the Court of Justice to ban the referendum, which it considered amounted to a violation of international rights, but to no avail.
Last Friday, the International Court of Justice called on Caracas not to take any step that would introduce changes to the disputed territories, but it avoided referring to the referendum. Caracas, in turn, pledged to move forward with its organization.