Amnesty International criticizes Venezuela for suspending primary election results
Venezuela has scheduled a referendum for December 3 that will ask Venezuelans whether they support the creation of a new province called “Guyana Esequiba” in a 160,000 km² area with vast natural resources, as well as granting citizenship to 125,000 residents.
The problem is that this region, known as Essequibo, is administered by another country, Guyana.
The two countries have been fighting over Essequibo since 1966. In 2015, the dispute intensified when the American company ExxonMobil discovered oil fields in the region.
- Guyana claims to be the owner of the territory, as there is a report drawn up in Paris in 1899 that established the current boundaries.
- Already Venezuela declares that the territory belongs to it because this is stipulated in an agreement signed with the United Kingdom in 1966, before Guyana’s independence, which annulled the arbitration award and laid the basis for a negotiated settlement.
Guyana wants the dispute to be resolved at the International Court of Justice. Venezuela wants to try to negotiate with its neighboring country.
The issue gets caught up in Venezuela’s internal political dispute
Presidential elections will take place in Venezuela next year. Opposition politicians decided to hold a preliminary vote to elect a single candidate and the winner was María Corina Machado. Doubts remain over whether she can stand as an opposition candidate, with the Venezuelan court ruling that she cannot run.
On Wednesday (22nd) Corina called for the suspicion of the referendum on the territorial dispute with Guyana.
“The referendum on Essequibo must be suspended,” said the opponent, who viewed the mechanism as a distraction in Venezuela’s political, economic and social climate ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“It is a mistake that not only does nothing to defend our territory, but could also harm us in our defense before the International Court of Justice,” she said.
Corina believes that the territory is of Venezuelan origin, but that the country must prepare to present an “unobjectionable defense that demonstrates Venezuela’s rights” to Essequibo.
The politician visited the area in 2013 when she was a member of parliament and appears in a photo with other opponents holding a sign that reads: “Essequibo is ours.”