The government of Guyana He said he will remain “vigilant” after Venezuelans voted in a referendum on Sunday in favor of the claim over the region of the Essequibo.
The Essequibo, an area in dispute between Venezuela and Guyana, It is an area rich in oil and minerals that represents more than two thirds of Guyanese territory.
“We must always remain vigilant,” Guyanese Foreign Minister Hugh Todd told the international news agency AFP after the referendum.
“Of course, our monitoring must always be at a high level. Although we do not believe that President (Nicolás) Maduro will order an invasion, he can do something that is unpredictable,” he added.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela initially assured that 10,554,320 votes were counted, without clarifying whether they correspond to the same number of voters or 5 votes per voter were counted in reference to the 5 different questions.
This Monday, the president of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, trying to dispel initial doubts about participation, said that more than 10.4 million of 20.7 million eligible voters cast their votes.
Venezuelans backed the territorial claim over Essequibo in a referendum on Sunday. (Getty Images).
The litigation
Venezuela has for decades defended its territorial claim to Essequibo, an area that is home to 125,000 of Guyana’s 800,000 inhabitants.
There is an ongoing litigation between both countries before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of The Hague to define the bilateral borders in that area.
Guyana, a former British and Dutch colony, insists the borders were established by an arbitration panel in 1899.
However, Venezuela does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICJ in the matter and maintains that the Essequibo River, to the east of the region, forms a natural border that has been historically recognized.
The dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered oil in Essequibo in 2015.
Caracas called the referendum after the Georgetown government began auctioning oil blocks in the Essequibo in August.
Todd told AFP that Guyana will maintain defense cooperation with the United States and other strategic partners and will continue diplomatic efforts to persuade Venezuela to allow the ICJ to make the final decision.
“We have already made it clear that we will abide by the court’s ruling,” said the Guyanese minister. Guyana previously asked the ICJ to block the vote.
Although the court urged Caracas not to take any measures that could affect the disputed territory, it did not grant Georgetown’s request for urgent intervention.
Guyana said the referendum represented an “existential” threat to the countryas it could pave the way for Venezuela to “unilaterally and illegally” take over the region.
What did the consultation consist of?
Venezuelan voters were asked about five questions in the referendumincluding whether or not Venezuela should reject the 1899 arbitration decision and the jurisdiction of the ICJ.
They were also consulted on whether or not Venezuelan citizenship should be granted to the people (currently Guyanese) of the new “Guyana Esequiba State”.
The Maduro government launched a massive campaign to get Venezuelans to vote in favor, with none against the measure.
:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/GQYDEMBNGEZC2MBUKQZTEORUGA.jpg "Guyana's response to the referendum in Venezuela on the disputed territory of Essequibo 1")
The Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, celebrated the results of the consultation. (GETTY IMAGES).
More than half of the 20.7 million voters participated, said the president of the National Electoral Council, Elvis Amoroso, trying to dispel doubts about participation.
The initial count was questioned by opposition politicians and analystswho warned about the possibility that voters’ answers to each of the five referendum questions would be counted as votes cast separately.
The low turnout of voters at the polling stations in Caracas and other cities fostered doubts.
The figure of 10.5 million announced by Amoroso accompanied by Maduro is the highest turnout ever recorded in a Venezuelan election.
The president called it an “overwhelming 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.
