The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela announced this Monday (23) the questions that citizens must answer in the consultative referendum on December 3, including the possibility of creating a state to annex Guyana Essequiba, a territory of almost 160 thousand square kilometers in dispute with neighboring Guyana.
Venezuelans will decide whether or not they agree “with the creation of the state of Guyana Essequiba” and that “an accelerated plan will be developed to fully serve the current and future population of this territory, including, among others, the granting of citizenship and the Venezuelan identity”, said the president of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso.
Speaking to the press, Amoroso explained that this proposal will be carried out “in accordance with the Geneva Agreement” of 1966, the only instrument that Venezuela considers valid in this controversy and that, if approved, it will mean the incorporation “of that state into the map of the Venezuelan territory.”
The referendum will consist of five dichotomous questions, with which Chavismo and Parliament, which promotes the referendum, seek to obtain an affirmative response from Venezuelans, including support for the “historical position [do governo] of not recognizing the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to resolve the territorial dispute”.
It will also be asked whether voters reject “by all means the line fraudulently imposed by the 1899 Paris arbitration award” on which Guyana bases its claim.
Furthermore, Venezuela seeks to legitimize its defense of the Geneva Agreement and wants to know whether its inhabitants agree “to oppose by all means Guyana’s claim to unilaterally dispose of a sea pending illegal delimitation”.
Guyana Essequiba, rich in resources and minerals, has been at the center of a dispute between the two countries and finds itself in a new episode of tension after the ICJ declared itself competent to resolve the dispute, something that Venezuela rejects.
Recently, the Venezuelan government rejected the bidding for oil blocks being carried out by Guyana, considering that it “intends to dispose of maritime areas” within the disputed zone.
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