2023-12-08 03:51:08
In Caracas on December 6, a member of the National Assembly holds a map showing the disputed Essequibo region as part of Venezuela. LEONARDO FERNANDEZ VILORIA / REUTERS
The increase in tensions between Venezuela and Guyana over the Essequibo, an oil-rich territory disputed by the two countries, is mobilizing the international community. At the request of Guyana, the United Nations Security Council will examine the subject on Friday, December 8, behind closed doors.
Since the discovery of significant oil reserves by the American company ExxonMobil in 2015 and calls for tenders from Guyana for exploitation in the area, the dispute has continued to grow. The referendum organized on Sunday in Venezuela on the fate of this 160,000 km2 area under Guyanese administration and claimed for decades by Caracas acted as an accelerator. According to official figures – contested by many observers – some 10.4 million Venezuelan voters participated in the consultation and 95% of them said they were in favor of the integration of Essequibo into the country.
The members of Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay) as well as Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, urged in a joint statement Thursday evening “the two parties to dialogue and the search for a peaceful solution (…) in order to avoid unilateral initiatives which could worsen” the situation. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had earlier said he did not want to “War in South America”. The British Foreign Minister, David Cameron, called on Caracas to ” cease “ his actions, “seeing no argument” who could justify “unilateral action”.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Referendum in Venezuela on the Essequibo: “A total success”, according to Nicolas Maduro
“Unwavering support” from the United States to Guyana
The United States announced on Thursday that it would carry out air military exercises “routine” in Guyana, a small country destined to become an El Dorado of black gold with the largest per capita reserves on the planet.
“I would be careful not to link too closely between routine military operations in the region and this particular issue” of the crisis between the two countries, said the spokesperson for the American National Security Council, John Kirby, on Thursday. “We recognize the sovereign territory of Guyana and, as we do with many nations, we will conduct operations and exercises as necessary”, he clarified. He refused to comment on a possible American military intervention. A little earlier, the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, affirmed his “unwavering support for Guyana’s sovereignty”.
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For Venezuela, these military exercises are a “unfortunate provocation by the United States in favor of the ExxonMobil praetorians”the main oil operator in Guyana. “They will not make us turn away from our future actions for the recovery of the Essequibo”insisted Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez.
“Direct threat” to Guyana
Adding to the tension, five of the seven soldiers from a Guyanese helicopter missing since Wednesday died in a crash about fifty kilometers from the Venezuelan border, announced the army, which reported “two survivors”. The army, which the day before had indicated that it had not “no information to suggest” a Venezuelan intervention, opened a ” investigation “. However, she clarified that the weather conditions were “bad”.
President Irfaan Ali reacted by speaking “a direct threat to the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Guyana”. He stressed that his army was in “full alert” and accused Venezuela of being a “outlaw nation” et “a significant risk for peace and security”. In return, Caracas accused the Guyanese president of having given “irresponsibly” the ” green light “ to the installation of American military bases in Essequibo.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has called for the creation of a special military zone near the border and ordered state giant PDVSA to grant oil exploitation licenses in the Essequibo. He also proposed banning Venezuela from oil companies operating in the Essequibo with concessions granted by Guyana.
Read also: Essequibo Referendum: Venezuela Orders Granting of Oil Licenses in Guyana Region
Acerbic exchanges
The two countries, however, renewed contact on Wednesday between their foreign ministers and “agreed to keep communication channels open”according to a Venezuelan press release.
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However, the exchanges continue to be bitter. On Thursday, Guyanese Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said his country would not “didn’t trust” to Mr. Maduro, at the head, according to him, of a “unpredictable government”. He also swept “ultimate” from Maduro to companies operating in Guyana: “They must not take into account Maduro or his ultimatum. They operate legally, completely legally”.
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Some 125,000 people, or a fifth of the country’s population, live in the region which represents two-thirds of Guyana’s land area. Venezuela maintains that the Essequibo River should be the natural border, as in 1777 during the time of the Spanish Empire. Guyana, for its part, argues that the border dates from the English colonial era and was ratified in 1899 by an arbitration court created ex nihilo for the case in Paris.
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