Essequibo: A Generational Crisis
Flowing into the ocean through a wide estuary, the majestic Essequibo river runs from deep inland, nearly touching on the border between Guyana and Brazil on the northern coast of South America. At its widest points, it is speckled with islands of luscious, deep green. As it progresses from its source in the looming Acarai Mountains, it crashes mightily at several waterfalls which coat the surrounding rainforests in drenching mist. Flowing northward towards the Atlantic, it carries dozens of species of fish and nourishes the rich local fauna of the savannas along the way.
This river bisects the heart of Guyana from south to north and is the largest river in the country. It is also the faultline of a major territorial dispute as all lands to its west are claimed by neighboring Venezuela, which aims, most recently under longtime President Nicolás Maduro, to assert its claimed right to annex the area.
The territory in question is exceedingly vast. The land west of the river, also simply known as Essequibo, covers approximately 61,000 square miles (159,500 km2) of territory - larger than the size of Bangladesh. An annexation of the region would cleave off about two-thirds of Guyana, an area that hosts over 15 percent of the country’s population.
The dispute is over 125 years-old. In 1895, following decades of disagreement over the border between Venezuela and what was at the time the British colony of Guyana, the Venezuelan Crisis represented a high point of contention.
Following a diplomatic intervention by the United States, most of the contested zone was declared a part of British Guyana. In 1899, the Paris Arbitral Award formalized the agreement, confirming Essequibo as a distinct component of the British colony. Since then, however, Venezuela has repeatedly called the supposed agreement into question.
In 1949, it was revealed that the 1899 deal was reached due to a bias towards Britain among the international arbitrators who oversaw the resolution of the crisis. Venezuelan officials argued that the finding rendered the cession null and void. Subsequently, the 1966 Geneva Agreement outlined a framework for addressing the dispute as Guyana gained its independence.
Such historical events showcase how pressing the claim over the territory by Venezuela is hardly unique to the Maduro regime, but instead has been an issue for several successive Venezuelan governments.
The international disagreement took another turn in 2015, when Exxon Mobil, with the approval of the Guyanese government, struck oil offshore near the area, piquing Maduro’s interest. Thus, the stage was set for a new escalation of the conflict, which became drastic last year.
On October 12, 2023, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council announced that it had approved the process for a referendum to be held, asking Venezuelans whether Essequibo should be annexed from Guyana. A major proponent of the special vote, President Maduro campaigned heavily in support of incorporating the land into Venezuela by any means necessary.
Less than two months later, on December 3, 96.37 percent of participants in this election reportedly voted to approve the integration of Essequibo as the new Venezuelan state of Guayana Esequiba. Almost immediately, Maduro declared Venezuelan ownership of any oil reserves within Essequibo, ordering Venezuelan oil producers to begin chartering the territory.
The Maduro regime even used the referendum as an opportunity to engage in some house cleaning. Several members of the opposition to Maduro were arrested on grounds that they had plotted to “sabotage” the vote. Among the detained were Roberto Abdul-Hadi, the leader of Súmate, a self-described vote-monitoring group, as well as three campaign staffers working for Maria Corina Machado, a presidential candidate running against Maduro in the 2024 presidential race.
No election over the fate of Essequibo, however, was held in Essequibo itself.
In response, Guyana firmly denounced the process, as the country had done continuously since the referendum’s announcement. Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali condemned Maduro as an “outlaw,” set on seizing the land for its oil contents. In a broadly symbolic event, Ali even took a helicopter to a mountain peak near the border town of Arau to plant the Guyanese flag less than six miles (ten km) from the border.
Throughout the turbulence, the indigenous communities of Essequibo have found themselves anxious at the prospect of Venezuela annexing their ancestral homeland. Loreen Allicock, an Essequibo native, told the Associated Press that local residents “are hoping,” and “having faith that nothing negative will come.” More pessimistically, Michael Williams, an indigenous community leader in the town Annai, stated that “We feel neglected as the people of this land. Nothing is being done for us at the moment.”
But between these two sentiments, an overriding theme purveys. In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Lloyd Perreira, a member of the indigenous Lokono, affirmed that “as an Indigenous person, Essequibo is ours.” Altogether, these statements demonstrate how while the feelings of Essequibo’s indigenous population may be mixed, they share a common distress and disapproval towards the notion of being absorbed into Venezuela.
Another key aspect of the indigenous reaction to the dispute is the community’s continuing struggles against the exploitation of their lands for natural resources, chiefly oil. According to Jean La Rose, also a member of the Lokono Nation and Amerindian Peoples Association, even once the tensions between Georgetown and Caracas subside, “we still have the situation of the need for the demarcation of our lands and the guarantee and respect for our traditional rights.”
The referendum was condemned internationally by the Caribbean Community and the Commonwealth of Nations, Guyana being a member of both. Furthermore, the United States and United Kingdom provided clear indications of military support for Guyana in the event of continued escalation. While the former announced its role in joint military exercises with Guyanese armed forces, the latter confirmed its dispatch of the warship Trent to Guyanese waters.
On February 9, 2024, it was reported by The Guardian that Venezuela has since been engaging in a troop buildup on its border with Guyana. The silence since then leads observers to only wonder how this crisis will further unfold.