The Essequibo Dispute Between Guyana and Venezuela
Venezuela held a referendum in December 2023 claiming two-thirds of Guyana's territory, and the region has been on edge since. The Essequibo covers about 160,000 square kilometres west of the river of that name — around 70 per cent of Guyana, with a population of some 125,000 who are Guyanese citizens and were not consulted. The dispute is old. An arbitral tribunal in Paris awarded the territory to British Guiana in 1899, and Venezuela accepted it for six decades before repudiating it in 1962 on the strength of a memorandum by a lawyer who had been on the British side and who alleged a deal between the British and Russian arbitrators. Guyana became independent in 1966, and the Geneva Agreement of that year left the question open. What revived it was oil. ExxonMobil found the Stabroek block offshore in 2015, and Guyana went from no production to over 600,000 barrels a day and the fastest-growing economy in the world. Venezuela's referendum asked voters to reject the ICJ's jurisdiction and to create a Venezuelan state in the territory, and reported overwhelming approval on turnout figures widely disputed. Maduro ordered licences issued for the area and produced a new map. Brazil moved troops to its northern border, the United States flew exercises with Guyana, and CARICOM and the Commonwealth backed Georgetown. The presidents met in St Vincent that month and agreed not to use force. The case remains before the International Court of Justice. A ruling on the merits will be the first time an international court has decided a territorial claim of this size in the Americas.
- Year: 2023 CE
- Category: Diplomatic
