In The Times today.
President Maduro of Venezuela has said his government will soon pass a law to formally incorporate a territory in neighbouring Guyana. He has also appointed an army general to oversee the annexed region.
The move follows a referendum in Venezuela on Sunday, in which Maduro’s government sought support for a historic claim, going back almost two centuries, over part of Guyana known as the Essequibo. The vote received overwhelming support, although there have been widespread allegations that the official figure of a high turnout was wildly exaggerated.
The International Court of Justice had ruled that Venezuela should refrain from taking any action to change the status quo in the region.
In a television address, Maduro said the region was “de facto occupied by the British Empire and its heirs”. He insisted he wanted a “peaceful rescue of the region”. State media has released a new map of Venezuela, moving its frontier with Guyana as much as 165 miles to the east.
Guyana is calling for international support following the statements, which its president, Irfaan Ali, said represented “a direct threat to the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Guyana”. He said he plans to take the matter to the United Nations security council.
“The Guyana Defence Force is on full alert and has engaged its military counterparts, including the US Southern Command. By defying the [International Court of Justice], Venezuela has rejected international law, the rule of law generally, fundamental justice and morality, and the preservation of international peace and security. They have literally declared themselves an outlaw nation,” he said.
Maduro also announced the creation of a military division to serve the territory, which will be initially based in the Venezuela town of Tumeremo, about 45 miles from the border with Guyana.
He has told the Venezuelan state oil company to immediately begin granting operating licences for the exploitation of crude oil, gas and mines in the neighbouring region.
Guyana and Venezuela have agreed to keep communication channels open over the territorial dispute.
Analysts have said Maduro’s statements remain in the realm of bravado, or even fantasy, as the unpopular leader who has overseen the world’s steepest recession over the past decade, attempts to shore up what little remains of his popular support. “Reality check: Maduro still needs a visa to visit Essequibo,” tweeted Phil Gunson, a consultant from the think tank Crisis Group.
In 2015, the US oil giant ExxonMobil made a series of massive oil discoveries off the coast of Guyana, in an area which Venezuela says is the maritime extension of its sovereign territory. Production of the oil, which began in 2019, is set to transform the former British colony. Last year its economy expanded by 63 per cent, making it the fastest growing in the world. Guyana’s population is just 800,000.
“We will not allow our territory to be violated, nor for the development of our country to be hindered by this desperate threat,” said Ali.
The Brazilian army said it was reinforcing its presence in the northern cities of Pacaraima and Boa Vista as part of efforts “to guarantee the inviolability of the territory”.
The United States was keeping an eye on mounting tensions, the White House said. John Kirby, National Security Council spokesman, said: “We obviously don’t want to see any violence occur here or conflict occur.”
The boundary dispute has its roots in the early 19th century, when the newly independent Venezuela protested that its neighbouring colony, British Guyana, had encroached on its land by drawing a frontier far to the west of the Essequibo river.
In 1899 an international arbitration committee, made up of five judges — two from Britain, two from the United States and one from Russia — agreed on a new boundary, which was close to the one claimed by the British. The Venezuelan side initially accepted the decision but later suggested that the British had bribed the Russian judge.