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Venezuela’s revolutionary socialist President Nicolás Maduro has ordered state-owned companies to exploit oil deposits and mines in areas controlled by Guyana, after boasting of an “overwhelming” popular mandate to enforce a long-standing claim to two-thirds of his neighbor’s land.
Maduro’s bellicose speech on Tuesday night heightened fears in Guyana that Venezuela could use force to seize the remote Essequibo territory, which controls access to a rich oil field.
He ordered Venezuela’s state-owned companies to issue licenses to explore and exploit oil deposits and mines in the sparsely populated Essequibo region, which is administered by Guyana but claimed by Venezuela. A special military unit based in a neighboring Venezuelan state will be created for the territory, Maduro said.
“I propose a special law to ban all companies operating with Guyanese concessions from any transaction,” Maduro said on state television, adding that “they have three months to withdraw” after the law is passed. He also ordered the publication of new maps of Venezuela showing Essequibo as part of its territory.
In response, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali said he would report the matter to the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice on Wednesday.
“The Guyana Defense Force is on high alert,” Ali said in a late-night televised address. “Venezuela has clearly declared itself an outlaw nation.”
Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo earlier said the South American nation must be “very vigilant” and “prepared for any eventuality” following Venezuela’s referendum on the issue on Sunday. “The Venezuelan leadership has proven to be very unpredictable,” he told local media.
Venezuelan officials demanded majorities of more than 95 percent on five issues concerning Essequibo, including the creation of a new Venezuelan state encompassing the remote area, granting Venezuelan citizenship to Essequibo’s over 100,000 residents and rejecting the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice Hear argument.
“This referendum is binding and I accept the mandate of the people,” Maduro said after the official results were announced on Sunday. He used Venezuela’s name for the territory, adding: “Now we will truly regain Venezuela’s historic rights in Guayana Esequiba.”
A conflict between two oil-rich nations in America would be a new crisis for U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, which has been betting on a rapprochement with Maduro in the hope that an easing of Donald Trump-era economic sanctions will encourage him to do so would move towards freedom and fair elections and help improve global oil supplies.
The US State Department initially reacted cautiously to Sunday’s vote. A spokesman called on Venezuela and Guyana to “continue to seek a peaceful solution to their dispute.” . . This will not be resolved by a referendum.”
Experts said Maduro’s main motive for mounting a high-profile patriotic referendum campaign was to distract voters from his own unpopularity and the growing momentum behind the main opposition candidate in next year’s presidential election, María Corina Machado.
Venezuela has long challenged an international arbitration tribunal’s 1899 decision to award the Essequibo region to then-colonial British Guiana. The lawsuit hasn’t been pursued recently, but that changed after U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil made one of the world’s largest oil discoveries off the coast of Essequibo in 2015.
Exxon is now setting up production in the offshore Stabroek block, which the Venezuelan government is exploiting to portray Guyana as a lackey of US imperialism. Darren Woods, chief executive of the US oil giant, told Bloomberg after the referendum: “I’m not sure the press has captured the true intensity of the situation there, but we’re keeping an eye on it.” He didn’t elaborate.
Any military conflict in the mountainous and jungle-covered Essequibo region would heavily favor Venezuela, whose Russian-equipped forces vastly outnumber and outgun Guyana’s tiny forces.