Chavismo won this Sunday the non-binding referendum on the annexation of Essequibo, a jungle region of 160,000 square kilometers in dispute with Guyana, with more than 95% of the votes and a turnout close to 50%, according to the National Electoral Center ( CNE). The Venezuelan Government’s intention to take over that part of Guyana, which represents two-thirds of its territory, increases tension with the neighboring country, which has seen Chavismo’s call to the polls as an explicit provocation.
The Executive has deployed a huge nationalist campaign to promote a map of Venezuela that adds the territory – rich in oil and minerals – of Guayana Esequiba, with an area greater than that of Portugal. The president, Nicolás Maduro, has been the first to support the referendum that can serve as a starting signal for his campaign for the 2024 presidential elections, in which he will face an opposition candidate, who could be María Corina Machado, winner of the primaries, if the disqualification is finally lifted. The State apparatus has promoted the vote with billboards, concerts, merchandisingmilitary concentrations and incessant advertising on social networks.
The president of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, declared three hours after the closing of the voting centers that the participation in the defense of the Venezuelan sovereignty of the Essequibo and the Geneva Agreement of 1966 was close to “10 million people.” This Monday, the CNE announced that 10.43 million voters participated in the consultation, around 50% of the census. In his best moment, Hugo Chávez never managed to reach a figure like the one suggested by the electoral authority. The Chavista authorities have declared that voter attendance at the polls has been massive. Much emphasis has been placed on the fact that this entire process goes beyond the parties and that it is a national objective, although it is the Miraflores palace [sede del Gobierno venezolano] who summons him.
Rayner Peña R. (EFE)
However, images of empty voting centers circulated throughout the day. The feeling was of failure. The absence of people was palpable even in the news previews of the state-run Venezuelan television, in which many national and regional leaders harangued about the sacred commitment and national duty. In some voting centers, the presence of active members of the National Guard and students of the National Security University, among other state officials, was visible, waiting for their turn to vote.
Guyana asked the UN International Court of Justice, based in The Hague, on Friday to suspend the Venezuelan popular consultation, considering it a threat. Chavismo took it as a victory that the organization did not explicitly suspend the process, although the United Nations court did reiterate its warnings to Caracas “not to do anything that modifies the situation on the territory that it administers and controls.” de facto Guyana”, while the substance of the dispute over the region analyzed by the court is determined, which is, precisely, the validity of the border defended by Guyana.
The magistrates also expressed their concern about one of the questions raised in the consultation, the fifth. It was the one that generated the most suspicion, since with it the Maduro Government receives popular authorization to create a State in the disputed territory and give Venezuelan identity to just over 125,000 people who live in that strip of jungle and who are already Guyanese.
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Some important opposition politicians, such as former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles or Governor Manuel Rosales, decided to support the initiative. There were hardly any voters in the places where they cast their ballots. However, the toughest sectors of the Venezuelan opposition, the majority at this time, chose to question the content of the referendum and, like the Popular Will party, called on the population to “not allow themselves to be manipulated.” María Corina Machado stated that she would not participate in the consultation, since “national sovereignty is not consulted, it is exercised.”
Jorge Rodríguez, president of the official command that promoted the referendum, congratulated the population for their participation and insisted that the total absence of incidents is new proof that the Venezuelan electoral system “is one of the best in the world,” by virtue of the speed of the process. Some analysts have stated that the speed of voting could explain the absence of queues, and that participation levels could be higher than estimated by the opposition, which distrusts official figures.
Amoroso declared at six in the afternoon (11:00 p.m. in mainland Spain) that the closure of the tables was extended for two more hours, until eight in the afternoon, to give the opportunity to those who had not been able to vote, given that Citizens continued to arrive. The Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino, expressed his satisfaction with the result of a “civic” initiative to claim legitimate national sovereignty in Essequibo. In the news broadcasts on state television it was stated that this was “the first popular consultation in defense of national sovereignty” that has been held in the history of the country. Diosdado Cabello, vice president of the ruling party, the PSUV, also highlighted the speed of the process, the absence of incidents and citizen discipline.
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