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Venezuelans voted to support their country’s claim to an oil-and-mineral-rich swath of neighbouring Guyana in a referendum on Sunday.
The referendum, which Guyana has described as a pretext for “annexation”, marks a new phase in a dispute over the Essequibo region that has escalated since ExxonMobil found oil in the Stabroek block off its coast in 2015.
“We have to give a standing ovation to the Venezuelan people,” said Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s strongman socialist president, in a speech in Caracas after the electoral authority announced the results.
“[We] have taken the first steps of a new historic phase of fighting for what is ours, and to recover what the liberators left us: Guayana Esequiba”, as the disputed region is known in Venezuela.
Maduro did not mention what steps Caracas might take next regarding Essequibo, but he did celebrate the strong turnout. At the start of his speech, he referred to the referendum as “consultative”.
The vote took place despite orders on Friday from the International Court of Justice for Venezuela to refrain from “taking any action” that would alter the status quo of the Essequibo region, which Guyana “administers and exercises control over”.
All five questions concerning the Essequibo region on the ballot were approved by voters, including one that rejected the ICJ’s jurisdiction to rule on the matter. Another asked voters if they believed the territory should become a Venezuelan state and its residents granted citizenship.
The head of Venezuela’s national electoral council — over which the government wields influence — said more than 10mn people voted in the referendum, with all questions approved with at least 95.4 per cent in favour.
The 160,000 sq km of land is home to about 200,000 Guyanese who mainly speak English and indigenous languages.
Tensions flared ahead of the vote, with Guyana claiming Caracas was preparing a military build-up should it wish to enforce the referendum’s outcome. Venezuelan government officials said its troops were deployed to carry out operations against illegal mining.
Brazil, which borders both countries, said it had “intensified” defence measures near the territory ahead of the vote, “promoting a greater military presence”.
Observers and opposition politicians inside Venezuela have characterised the referendum as an attempt for Maduro to buoy domestic support as the country prepares for elections in the second half of 2024.
Maduro — who won re-election in 2018 in a vote regarded by the US as fraudulent — has yet to announce his candidacy, though he is widely expected to run.
In an effort to entice Maduro into allowing a “free and fair” poll next year, the US last month relaxed sanctions on oil, gold and secondary financial markets for six months.
Despite official claims of a mass turnout, witnesses said queues at polling stations on Sunday were much shorter than those for the opposition’s primary on October 22, in which 2.4mn people participated.
That vote was decisively won by María Corina Machado, a pro-market former lawmaker banned from holding office by the government. On Thursday the government said it would allow disqualified candidates to appeal against their bans.
While most Venezuelans consider the Essequibo region a part of Venezuela, Machado said ahead of the referendum that the vote was a “distraction” and that the matter should be settled at the ICJ.
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