Venezuelans approve a referendum to assert sovereignty over a region of Guyana rich in oil

Venezuelans approve a referendum to assert sovereignty over a region of Guyana rich in oil
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On Sunday, the people of Venezuela accepted a referendum called by President Nicolás Maduro‘s administration, which sought to reclaim sovereignty over a mineral- and oil-rich region of neighboring Guyana, which it claims was taken when the border was established more than a century ago.

How Maduro will implement the election results is still unknown. However, Guyana’s citizens are uneasy about the referendum because they see it as a step toward annexation.

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Even though few voters were visible at polling places during the five-question referendum’s voting period, the National Electoral Council declared that it had counted more than 10.5 million votes. Nevertheless, the council did not clarify if the total number of votes represented all voters or the sum of each response.

Voters in Venezuela were asked if they supported creating a state in the disputed Essequibo region, granting citizenship to present and future residents, and rejecting the UN Supreme Court’s jurisdiction in resolving the dispute between the South American nations.

After the results were revealed, Maduro told supporters gathered in the capital city of Caracas, “It has been a total success for our country, for our democracy.” There was a “very important level of participation” in the referendum, he said.

Even after the nation’s top electoral official, Elvis Amoroso declared that the 12-hour voting period was going to be extended by two hours, long lines that are customary for electoral events did not form outside Caracas voting centers throughout Sunday.

If Amoroso’s claimed voter participation rate is accurate, then more people participated in the referendum than supported Maduro’s mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chávez, during his reelection as president in 2012. But voter turnout could fall to as low as 2.1 million if it is equal to each answer marked by voters.

Merchant Juan Carlos Rodríguez, 37, said, “I came to vote since Essequibo is ours, and I trust that whatever they will be doing, they think about it seriously and remember not to put peace at risk,” following his vote at a Caracas center where there were not many people in line.

The judges of the International Court of Justice on Friday barred Venezuela from taking any steps that would affect Guyana’s sovereignty over Essequibo, but they did not expressly forbid officials from conducting the five-question vote on Sunday. The court had been asked by Guyana to compel Venezuela to halt portions of the vote.

The international court president, Joan E. Donoghue, stated in remarks explaining Friday’s verdict that although the practical and legal consequences of the referendum are still unknown, statements from Venezuela’s government suggest it “is taking steps with a view regarding acquiring control over and handling the territory in dispute.”

“In addition, military officials from Venezuela declared that the country is actively constructing an airstrip to function as a ‘logistical support point for the vital growth of the Essequibo,'” the statement stated.

The 61,600-square-mile (159,500-square-kilometer) territory borders Brazil, which this week, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry, “intensified its defense actions” and increased its military presence in the area as a result of the dispute. It also makes up two-thirds of Guyana.

Greater in area than Greece, Essequibo is abundant in minerals. Furthermore, it provides access to a region of the Atlantic where the oil giant ExxonMobil found oil in commercial quantities in 2015, a discovery that caught Maduro’s government’s attention.

For weeks, the Venezuelan government actively pushed for the referendum, portraying voting as a patriotic gesture and frequently confusing it with endorsing Maduro. Because Essequibo was within its borders during the Spanish colonial era, the nation has always claimed ownership of the region. However, it has long contested the border determined by international arbitrators in 1899, when Guyana was still a British colony.

Arbitrators from the United States, Russia, and Britain determined that boundary. Due in part to the Venezuelan government’s breakup with Britain, the United States represented Venezuela on the panel.

Venezuelan officials argue that a 1966 agreement to settle the dispute effectively nullified the original arbitration and claim that Americans and Europeans conspired to deceive their country out of the land.

The only English-speaking nation in South America, Guyana, believes the original agreement is enforceable and lawful. In 2018, it requested the International Court of Justice to rule in favor of this position, but a ruling on the matter is still a few years off.

To find a solution, voters were asked on Sunday if they “agree to reject by all means, by the law” the 1899 boundary and if they thought the 1966 agreement was “the only valid legal instrument.”

Maduro committed all of his government’s resources to the endeavor. Essequibo-themed music, history lessons broadcast nationwide, murals, rallies, and social media content all assisted the government in deflecting public attention away from urgent issues. These included mounting pressure from the United States government on Maduro to free political prisoners and wrongfully imprisoned Americans, as well as to ensure free and fair elections for president the following year.

During an Associated Press tour of the Caracas voting centers, lines of about thirty people were observed at some locations, while there were others where there was no wait time for voters to cast their ballots. In contrast, during previous election cycles, hundreds of people congregated outside polling places from the outset.

And the whole affair was nothing compared to the hours-long lineups that developed outside polls during the presidential primary that an opposition group held in October without the help of the National Electoral Council.

With the number of polling places available and the amount of time it takes to cast a paper ballot, government officials declared that the primary participation total of over 2.4 million voters was mathematically impossible. According to state media, the short line on Sunday was caused by voters using their computers to cast their ballots quickly.

It only took Maduro 15 seconds to cast his ballot early on Sunday, he said to supporters who were celebrating the results.

According to Ángela Albornoz, a grassroots organizer for the ruling party, she estimated that 23% to 24% of the voters assigned to her voting center cast ballots on Sunday. She made this estimate to the AP. The 62-year-old Albornoz said that number fell short of her expectations for an occasion that was supposed to unite all Venezuelans “regardless of politics.”

On Sunday, President Mohamed Irfaan Ali of Guyana assured Guyanese that there is “nothing to fear over the next number of hours, days, months ahead” and that his administration is working nonstop to ensure the nation’s borders “remain intact.”

“I would like to counsel Venezuela that this is a chance for them to demonstrate maturity and accountability, and we again invite them to join us in letting the rule of law operate and to decide how this controversy is resolved,” Ali stated.

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