Venezuelans voted Sunday in a non-binding referendum that the government hopes will strengthen its centuries-old claim to the oil-rich Essequibo Territory, controlled by neighboring Guyana.
Voter turnout appeared to be low in districts visited by AFP journalists in Caracas and elsewhere, but election officials kept polling stations open for another two hours until 8:00 p.m. (0000 GMT) to accommodate people already in the facilities decided to allow voting.
Results are expected early Monday of a referendum that has raised fears in Guyana and across the region about Venezuela’s ultimate intentions regarding the disputed territory.
“Essequibo is ours!” say posters plastered on street walls in Caracas, part of an intensive campaign by the government of President Nicolas Maduro, a leftist seeking re-election next year.
“We are convinced that Essequibo is ours. It has always been ours,” said Mariela Camero, 68, who cast her vote in a working-class neighborhood of Caracas.
But in Guyana, thousands of people, some wearing T-shirts that read “Essequibo is part of Guyana,” formed human chains in solidarity with their government, and its president assured that the country’s borders were secure.
“Turnout is a little slow,” a local election official in a Caracas suburb who spoke on condition of anonymity said early in the afternoon. “We have seen voter turnout of around 30 percent so far.”
The Maduro government has said it is not seeking justification for invading or annexing the vast territory, as some fear in Guyana, a former British colony.
And regardless of the vote of the approximately 20 million Venezuelans eligible to vote, little will change in the short term: the population of Essequibo is not voting and the referendum is non-binding.
But tensions have increased since Guyana accepted offers for several offshore oil exploration blocks in September and after a major new discovery was announced in October. Its petroleum reserves are similar to Kuwait’s and have the highest per capita reserves in the world.
Meanwhile, Maduro’s government has stepped up its rhetoric and conducted military exercises in the region.
Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali said on Sunday that the government was working to protect the country’s borders and ensure the safety of its people.
“I want to assure Guyanese that there is nothing to fear,” Ali said in an address shared on Facebook.
Venezuela has claimed Essequibo’s vast territory for decades – although its 160,000 square kilometers (62,000 square miles) is more than two-thirds of Guyana’s area and its 125,000 residents make up a fifth of Guyana’s total area.
Caracas claims that the Essequibo River in the east of the region is the natural border between the two countries, as declared under Spanish rule in 1777, and that Britain unjustly appropriated Venezuelan land in the 19th century.
However, Guyana maintains that the border was established in the British colonial period and was confirmed by an arbitration court in 1899. It is said that the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations’ highest judicial body, has confirmed this finding.
Guyana had asked the International Court of Justice to block the referendum. But while the court on Friday asked Caracas not to take any action that could impact the disputed territory, it made no mention of the measure.
– Five questions –
The referendum includes five questions, including proposals to create a Venezuelan province called “Guyana Essequibo” that would give residents Venezuelan citizenship, as well as a call to reject the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.
The Maduro government expects an overwhelming “yes”.
The referendum “will likely produce the result Maduro wants,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said from Dubai, where he is attending the COP28 environmental conference. But “I hope common sense will prevail.”
In Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado, an opposition politician who wants to run against Maduro in next year’s election, called the referendum a “distraction.”
And in Guyana, some locals downplayed the vote.
“The referendum is probably important for them, for Venezuela — not for us,” said Dilip Singh, a businessman who lives in the disputed region.
“I grew up in Essequibo,” he said, adding: “The Spanish never occupied it – at any point in our history… Now it is independent, and it will always be that way.”
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