Enlarge image
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Photo: Zurimar Campos / AFP
Tensions are increasing between Guyana and Venezuela in the dispute over the oil-rich Esequibo region: President Nicolás Maduro has passed a law to create a new Venezuelan federal state around the area in neighboring Guyana. "The decision made by the Venezuelan people in the consultative referendum will be fulfilled in all its parts, and with this law we will defend Venezuela on the international stage," said Maduro.
Enlarge image
“We are Essequibo”: In this mural in Caracas, the Essequibo region already belongs to Venezuela
Photo: Matias Delacroix / AP
At the beginning of December, Maduro held a controversial referendum in Venezuela in which, according to official information, 96 percent of the participants voted in favor of joining “Guyana Esequiba” as a Venezuelan federal state.
Guyana's Attorney General Anil Nandlall had already said after the referendum that he would ask the UN Security Council for help if Venezuela took further steps. President Ali later said Maduro's comments "constituted a direct threat to the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Guyana." The Esequibo area accounts for more than two thirds of the land area of the former British colony. 125,000 of the 800,000 inhabitants live there.
Immense oil deposits off Guyana's coast
The law will now create the 24th federal state "within Venezuela's territorial policy," according to the presidential palace. The population of this area will also be represented by one representative in Venezuela's next parliament, which will be elected in 2025. It also provides for “the provision and formation of a State and National High Commission for the Defense of Guiana Esequiba.” This is again raising fears that Venezuela could invade the region and trigger a war.
The dispute over territory claimed by Venezuela in western Guyana appeared to have calmed down recently after both presidents shook hands and exchanged gifts at a summit of Latin American and Caribbean countries a month ago. “Peace and love,” Maduro told his counterpart Irfaan Ali there.
Venezuela has long laid claim to the resource-rich area. The current boundaries were established in 1899 in an arbitration award from a tribunal in Paris, initiated by the USA and Great Britain. Venezuela relies on an agreement with the United Kingdom from 1966, a few months before the then colony of British Guiana became independent. This provided for a negotiated solution to the dispute. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is dealing with the case at Guyana's request, but Venezuela rejects its jurisdiction and has also anchored this in the law that has now been passed.
Immense oil deposits were discovered off Guyana's coast in 2015. This has now given the English-speaking country, previously one of the poorest in South America, the world's greatest economic growth.
czl/dpa