This Sunday, Venezuelans supported, through a referendum, the annexation of the Essequibo region, an oil-rich territory of Guyana, of almost 160,000 square kilometers, according to the first results of the non-binding consultation organized by Caracas to legitimize their claims on this territory that dispute with Guyana.
The vote concluded with a victory for yes, with more than 95% of the votes in favor of the five questions asked, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE), which did not provide participation figures, although it indicated that the vote collected about 10 .5 million “votes” of the 20.7 million Venezuelans who were called to the polls.
With this result, the Government of Nicolás Maduro has obtained popular support to develop, as the question posed, "an accelerated plan for comprehensive care for the current and future population" of this area, which includes granting citizenship to the 125,000 people who Mostly indigenous communities reside there.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro celebrated a “landslide” victory. “We have taken the first steps of a new historical stage in the fight for what belongs to us, to recover what the liberators left us,” he stated.
The CNE spoke of "10,554,320 votes", without explaining whether they correspond to the same number of voters or a calculation of five votes per person was carried out, corresponding to the number of questions answered by each participant. This generated controversy: the opposition accused the Government of trying to hide a high abstention rate and stressed that 10.5 million "votes" do not mean 10.5 million voters.
Henrique Capriles, two-time opposition presidential candidate, communicated to "It is very difficult to understand these results," said Luis Vicente León, director of the Datanalisis polling institute.
During the day, France Presse journalists in Caracas, Ciudad Guayana, capital of the Venezuelan region bordering Essequibo, or in San Cristóbal (southwest), only observed moderate crowds at the polling stations.
In these votes, promoted by Chavismo and a part of the opposition, Venezuelans, 95.94%, also agreed to oppose "by all means" the claim of Guyana, which controls the territory in question. , to "unilaterally dispose" of waters that Caracas considers "to be delimited."
The referendum, in five questions, asked Venezuelans in particular if they agree to not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which Guyana is responsible for, and integrate the territory into Venezuela.
This result, however, will not have concrete consequences in the short term: the territory is in Guyana and it is not a vote in favor of self-determination. The vote has raised concerns in Georgetown, Guyana's capital, and on the international stage.
Caracas assured that it is not looking for a reason to invade the area, as Guyana fears in the long term, where thousands of people have formed human chains to show their attachment to the territory. After Guyana's oil tenders and a new discovery of black gold in October , tension has increased in recent months.
Venezuela has claimed for decades this territory (sometimes called Guayana Esequiba) of 160,000 km2 that represents more than two-thirds of Guyana and where 125,000 people live, or a fifth of its population. Caracas maintains that the Essequibo River should be the natural limit, as in 1777 during the time of the Spanish Empire.
Guyana, which has some of the largest oil reserves per capita in the world, believes the border dates back to English colonial times and was ratified in 1899 by a Court of Arbitration. The country has turned to the ICJ, the highest judicial body of the UN, to validate it. Georgetown had also unsuccessfully appealed to the ICJ to try to stop the referendum.
