Keys to knowing Essequibo, the territory in dispute between Venezuela and Guyana

Sovereignty over the territory of Essequibo has been disputed for almost two centuries and has recently led to an increase in tension between Guyana, who has managed it as his own since 1966, and Venezuelawho claims it.

The Venezuelan presidents, Nicolás Maduro, and Guyanese presidents, Irfaan Ali, meet this Thursday in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to discuss this controversy, which was exacerbated after the unilateral referendum on December 3 in which Caracas approved annexing the territory.

These are the five keys to better understand this important region:

History

When Venezuela officially became independent from Spain in 1811, Essequibo was under its rule but, years later, the British took possession of some territories, which they expanded until they formed the so-called British Guiana.

Given Venezuela’s rejection, the dispute was resolved through international arbitration, which in 1899 stipulated with the so-called Paris Arbitration Award that the territory remained under British rule.

Venezuela declared the ruling null and void decades later and signed the 1966 Geneva Agreement with the United Kingdom, which established a commission to resolve the controversy. That same year, after obtaining its independence from the United Kingdom, Guyana began to control the Essequibo.

The case is currently before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Guyana assures that it will respect the resolution of the international court, but Venezuela rejects that it has jurisdiction to settle the dispute.

Population

About 125,000 people live in Essequibo, of Guyana’s 800,000 inhabitants, mostly members of the indigenous Arawako community. Other indigenous groups that populate the territory are the Arekuna, Akawaio, Kariña, Makushi, Patamuná, Sarao, Wapishana and Wai Wai.

The predominant language is English, as in the rest of Guyana, but indigenous communities also have their own languages.

Surface

It is a territory of 159,500 square kilometers, covering two thirds of Guyana and practically six of the ten regions that make up the country.

The entire Barima-Waini, Pomeroon-Supenaam and Cuyuni-Mazaruni regions are located in this territory, as well as much of the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Potaro-Siparuni and Essequibo Islands-West Demerara regions.

This jungle region, located west of the Essequibo River, borders with Venezuela, which calls the area Guayana Esequiba, and with Brazil.

Natural and mineral riches

Essequibo has mineral reserves of gold, bauxite, diamonds, copper and iron, among others, housing the Omai gold mine, a great source of income for Guyana.

It also has a varied flora and fauna, important water resources and fertile land that gives it great agricultural potential.

Petroleum

Its territorial waters contain large reserves of oil and natural gas, most concentrated in the Stabroek block. Since the American company ExxonMobil discovered crude oil in that area in 2015, Guyana has gone from being one of the poorest countries in South America to the one with the highest economic growth in the world (57.8% in 2022).

These reserves, which are estimated at about 11,000 million barrels of oil, encouraged, along with political issues, the tensions between Georgetown and Caracas over Essequibo to increase until reaching the current crisis.