Under the mediation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Brazil, President Ali of Guyana and President Maduro of Venezuela met in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a Caribbean island country, on 14 August to hold a dialogue on the territorial dispute in the Essequibo region between the two countries. Tensions between Venezuela and Guyana continue to be strained by the discovery of rich oil reserves in the region.
On the 14th, Guyanese President Ali (left) and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro shake hands during a meeting.
Venezuela referendum to annexOn the 1st of this month, the International Court of Justice ordered Venezuela not to take any action to change Guyana's control of the Essequibo region. On the 3rd, Venezuela launched a referendum on the ownership of the Essequibo region. Venezuela's National Electoral Commission announced that more than half of the electorate participated in the referendum, and as many as 95 percent of participants expressed support for the Venezuelan government's sovereignty claims. Maduro said on the 4th that he has "a plan" to restore Venezuela's "historic rights" to the territory of the nearly 160,000 square kilometers of Essequibo region.
Three days after the referendum was held, the Venezuelan parliament has approved the Essequibo Protection Law in its first reading. During the live broadcast of the meeting, Maduro showed a new version of the country's map containing the Essequibo region, and also announced the launch of a social assistance program for all residents of the region, the conduct of a census and the issuance of Venezuelan identity documents. "The solution that generations of Venezuelans have dreamed of is to create once and for all the 'Essequibo' – the 24th state of Venezuela," Maduro said at the conference. ”
At the same time, Maduro declared the area an "integrated defense zone" and asked foreign oil companies operating there to cease operations within three months. He expressed "willingness to negotiate" but urged discussion of "very strict rules prohibiting contracts with companies unilaterally granted concessions by Guyana". In addition, Venezuela will begin issuing licenses for natural gas and oil exploration and exploitation in the Ethiopia region.
On the 7th, Maduro ordered the Venezuelan army to enter a state of full combat readiness and announced the annexation of the Ethiopian region. According to Venezuelan newspaper El País, Maduro has ordered the mobilization of troops and even appointed Major General Cabello, a member of parliament from the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, as interim leader of the Essequibo region.
Guyana President Ali delivered a nationally televised speech on the evening of the 5th, protesting that Venezuela's above-mentioned actions pose a direct threat to Guyana, announcing that the Guyana army was on alert, and saying that he was in contact with the United States and other partners. He said he would raise the issue in the UN Security Council and inform the International Court of Justice, threatening to invoke Articles 41 and 42 of the UN Charter, which provide for the imposition of sanctions or military action to restore peace and security.
Ali also said Guyana would also invite partners, including the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom and France, to participate in mediating the dispute. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reiterated the U.S. side's call for a peaceful resolution of the dispute and affirmed that "the United States firmly supports" Guyana's sovereignty.
On the 6th, a Bell-412EPI helicopter of the Guyana Air Force crashed in the Essequibo area, killing five and wounding two. The weather was bad at the time of the incident, and the Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Forces, Omar Khan, said that five senior officers were flying in the helicopter to inspect the border garrison. However, the Guyana military said there was no information to suggest that Venezuela was involved.
The diagonal line in the map shows the Essequibo region, a disputed territory between Venezuela and Guyana.
Colonial history leaves a "bane"Located west of the Essequibo River in central Guyana and bordered by Venezuelan territory, the Essequibo region covers about two-thirds of Guyana's territory, with approximately 125,000 of Guyana's 800,000 people living in the region. The Essequibo region is now under the de facto control of Guyana, and the origins of the dispute between the two countries can be traced back to the 19th century when Britain and the United States partitioned Latin American colonies.
In 1814, Britain acquired sovereignty over Guyana from the Netherlands, and then extended its western border toward Venezuela. In 1899, the United States and Britain negotiated in Paris to transfer most of the disputed areas to British Guiana through "international arbitration". Successive Venezuelan governments have not recognized this.
On 17 February 1966, the United Kingdom and Venezuela negotiated in Geneva, and the Geneva Agreement established a commission to find a peaceful solution to the question of the ownership of the Essequibo region. In May of the same year, Guyana declared independence from British colonial rule and recognized the Geneva Accords of 1966. For its part, the Government of Venezuela recognized Guyana's independence, but retained its claim to the Essequibo region. Venezuela believes that the area west of the Essequibo River should be assigned to Venezuela in accordance with the Spanish colonial demarcation method.
Since 1983, Venezuela has offered direct negotiations with Guyana on the ownership of the Essequibo region, but Guyana has insisted on resolving the issue through United Nations agencies. Guyana filed an application for arbitration with the International Court of Justice in 2018, seeking confirmation of the outcome of the 1899 "international arbitration".
Essequibo region
In March 2015, U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil discovered more than 13 billion barrels of oil in the Essequibo region, which can be called a "world-class" new discovery, and cooperated with the government of Guyana to explore and exploit oil along the coast of the Essequibo region. Venezuela then issued a decree declaring sovereignty over the waters adjacent to the Essequibo region and including it in its new defense program. The dispute between Venezuela and Guyana over the region has further intensified.
On July 10, 2015, Maduro made a televised speech asking the United Nations to mediate the territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana, and sent then-Foreign Minister Rodriguez to New York to deliver a personal letter to then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He himself called Ban Ki-moon to resolve the dispute peacefully and resolve tensions between the two countries through the mediation of the United Nations. Maduro said the Guyanese government's authorization of ExxonMobil to explore and exploit oil in disputed waters is a grave violation to the Venezuelan people, and he accused ExxonMobil of deliberately escalating the territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana.
In December 2018, Guyana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs designated the Venezuelan Navy as "intercepting" an exploration vessel in waters off Guyana, a violation of Guyana's sovereignty. Guyana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that the exploration vessel, which belongs to the Norwegian Petroleum Geological Services Company, flies the flag of the Bahamas, undertakes the business of ExxonMobil of the United States, and has obtained an exploration license issued by Guyana. Venezuela responded that the sovereignty of the waters where the exploration vessel is located belongs to Venezuela and protested to Guyana.
In January 2021, Maduro signed a decree demarcating a new area of territorial waters on the country's Atlantic coast involving the disputed Essequibo region with Guyana. At that time, Maduro said at a meeting with members of the Council of State and the National Defense Council: "I signed a decree establishing the Atlantic territorial zone of Venezuela. It has been approved, please execute. Long live Venezuela and Essequibo!"
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
U.S. involvement has been accused of provocationOn the 7th of this month, the United States announced that it would conduct a "flight operation" in Guyana. The U.S. Embassy in Guyana said in a statement that the joint Xi was part of "routine engagement and actions to strengthen security partnerships" with Guyana.
On the same day, Venezuela condemned the joint military exercises between the United States and Guyana as "provocative" acts. Venezuelan Defense Minister Manuel López López López said on social media X: "This move by the United States in favor of ExxonMobil in Guyana is a regrettable provocation...... It's another step in the wrong direction. He added: "We will not abandon future operations to regain the Essequibo region." ”
The United States and Guyana have maintained a military partnership since 2022. U.S. National Security Council spokesman Kirby urged Venezuela and Guyana to use diplomatic means to resolve their territorial disputes on the 7th, saying that the United States does not want to see "fighting." Asked by a media reporter how strongly the United States would support Guyana, Kirby said he did not plan to "speculate on that kind of thing."
At the request of Guyana, the UN Security Council urgently convened a closed-door meeting on the 8th to discuss the crisis between Venezuela and Guyana over the ownership of the Ethiopia region, but the Security Council did not make any statement on the situation and did not issue any communiqué.
Brazilian President Lula expressed concern about the tense relations between Venezuela and Guyana at the summit of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) on 7 July, and did not want war in South America. The MERCOSUR summit also issued a statement urging Venezuela and Guyana to resolve their dispute peacefully through dialogue and to refrain from "unilateral actions and initiatives that could exacerbate tensions."
The joint statement was signed by the member States of MERCOSUR, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which were members of the Summit. Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru were among the associated countries of MERCOSUR.
On the 7th, Lula addressed the 63rd summit of MERCOSUR.
"There's one thing we don't want in South America, and that's war. Lula said that the development of South American countries must be based on peace. He also proposed the involvement of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a regional organization of which Venezuela and Guyana are members, to intervene in mediation. As a result of the escalating confrontation between Venezuela and Guyana, the Brazilian army has also strengthened its military presence in the northern border region.
On the 8th, Russia called for a peaceful settlement. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova said that the issue "should be resolved in the spirit of good-neighborliness and friendship by finding a peaceful solution acceptable to all parties."
Russian military expert Leonkov analyzed that the Venezuelan army can deal with the Guyanese army "without any problems". The Guyana Defence Force has approximately 3,500 soldiers and is made up of the Army, Air Force and Coast Guard. The Army, which consists of an infantry battalion, a Presidential Guard battalion and support units including engineers, is equipped with only nine armored vehicles, six artillery pieces and dozens of mortars. The Air Force has about 200 people and consists of 6 light transport aircraft and several combat helicopters. The Coast Guard also has 200 people with five patrol boats.
By comparison, the Venezuelan army has 123,000 men. The army has six divisions and one paratrooper infantry brigade, equipped with about 300 tanks, hundreds of infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, various types of multiple rocket launchers, and also has Mi-35, Mi-26, Mi-17V5 and other helicopters. The Air Force is equipped with dozens of warplanes, and the Navy has two diesel-electric submarines, as well as a number of missile frigates, landing ships, training ships, and supply ships.
Maduro and Ali issued a joint statement after their meeting on the 14th, promising that they would not use force to resolve the territorial dispute between the two countries under any circumstances. The two leaders agreed to immediately set up a joint committee of foreign ministers and other officials and technical experts from the two countries to discuss how to resolve the territorial dispute and to complete a report within three months.
News clue reporting channel: download the "Qilu One Point" APP from the application market, or search for the WeChat applet "Qilu One Point", and 800 reporters in the province are waiting for you to report online!