The dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, said this Monday (4) that he has “a plan” to “recover his country’s historical rights” over the Essequibo region, but did not give details on the matter.
This Sunday (3), the Venezuelan population approved in a referendum that the Chavista regime take measures to annex more than 160 thousand square kilometers of territory from neighboring Guyana to the west of the Essequibo River, which correspond to around 70% of Guyanese territory and over the which Caracas has claimed sovereignty since the 19th century.
The five consultation questions had more than 90% approval. Among the points endorsed were rejecting an 1899 Paris arbitration ruling that granted sovereignty over the region to the British Empire, of which Guyana was still a colony; recognize only the Geneva Agreement of 1966, which determined control of the area by the Guyanese, but admitted Venezuela’s challenge, as acceptable jurisprudence on the subject, rejecting arbitration by the International Court of Justice (ICJ); and transform the area into the Venezuelan state of Guiana Essequiba.
According to information from the EFE agency, at an event with electoral authorities, parliamentarians and the Executive in Caracas this Monday, Maduro said that the “popular will marked the beginning of a new stage in the fight for our Guiana Essequiba, for which we have a plan, a concept, a vision.”
“I abide by the will of the people, the popular will is sacred, the voice of the people is the voice of God, and it was expressed yesterday, December 3rd, and it is in this sense that, as head of state, I will take all my actions from now on onwards,” said Maduro.
“The decision you have made gives a vital and very powerful impulse towards the future,” said the dictator.
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