Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro not to take “unilateral measures” that would escalate the border conflict between Venezuela and neighboring Guyana, in a phone call on Saturday. “Lula stressed the importance of avoiding unilateral measures that could worsen the situation” in the disputed oil-rich Essequibo region, the Brazilian presidency said in a statement.
A dispute between the two countries brought before the International Court of Justice
The President of Brazil, which borders the two countries, repeated the “growing concern” of other South American countries which had in a joint statement Thursday evening invited “the two parties to dialogue and the search for a peaceful solution “. “If there is one thing we do not want, it is a war in South America,” Lula clearly said. The discovery of vast oil deposits has revived the old conflict over the Essequibo, a territory of 160,000 km2 administered by Guyana, but which Venezuela claims, maintaining that the real border is that dating from the Spanish empire in 1777.
The dispute is being brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the UN, which Venezuela does not recognize. Guyana believes that the boundaries were established in 1899, when the United Kingdom was the colonial power of the territory. The two countries continue to exchange harsh statements and the UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Friday evening, but no comments were made.
Russia, an ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who supported his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin from the first hours of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, called for “peaceful solutions acceptable to all”. Washington, an ally of Georgetown, affirmed its “unwavering support for the sovereignty of Guyana”. The Venezuelan Defense Minister has described the air military exercises that the United States announced would be held in Guyana as a “provocation”.
Analysts, however, believe that the nationalist rhetoric of the Venezuelan power on the Essequibo, and the referendum organized on Sunday calling for 95% of annexation to Venezuela, according to contested official figures, are an attempt at political manipulation by Nicolas Maduro to less than one year of the 2024 presidential election where he is aiming for a 3rd term. Some 125,000 people, or a fifth of Guyana’s population, live in Essequibo, which covers two-thirds of the country’s land area.