Venezuelans on Sunday approved a referendum called by President Nicolás Maduro’s government to claim sovereignty over an oil and mineral patch in neighboring Guyana, the country’s electoral authorities announced.
A small number of voters could be seen at polling stations throughout the voting period for the five-question referendum, but the National Electoral Council claimed to have counted more than 10.5 million votes. The council, however, did not explain whether the total number of votes was equivalent to the number of voters or the total of each individual answer.
Venezuela has long argued that the territory was stolen when the border was drawn more than a century ago. But Guyana saw the referendum as a step towards annexation, and the vote left its people bewildered.
Venezuelan voters were asked whether they supported the creation of a state in the disputed territory, known as Essequibo, granting citizenship to current and future residents of the area and rejecting the jurisdiction of the United Nations’ highest court in resolving disputes between South American countries.
Members of the Venezuelan Armed Forces stand on the day of an election referendum on Venezuela’s rights to the potentially oil-rich Esequiba region, which has long been the subject of a border dispute between Venezuela and Guyana, in Caracas, Venezuela on Dec. 3. , 2023. REUTERS
“It is a great success for our country, for our democracy,” Maduro told supporters gathered in Caracas, the capital, after the results were announced before highlighting the “very important level of people’s participation” in the referendum.
Throughout Sunday, the usual long lines of electoral events did not form outside polling stations in Caracas. However, before the 12-hour voting session was scheduled to end, the country’s top electoral authority, Elvis Amoroso, announced polls would remain open for an additional two hours due to what he described as “massive participation.”
If the participation figures offered by Amoroso refer to voters, it means that more people voted in the referendum than Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s mentor and predecessor, when he was re-elected in the 2012 presidential contest. But if it equates to each individual answer marked by voters, turnout could drop to as low as 2.1 million voters.
Diosdado Cabello, Deputy of Venezuela’s National Assembly, gestures as he speaks after the National Electoral Council published the results of a consultative referendum on Venezuelan sovereignty over Essequibo, in Caracas, on Dec. 3, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
Activity at polling stations Sunday in Caracas paled in comparison to the hours-long lines that formed outside the election during the presidential election held by opposition factions in October without help from the National Electoral Council.
More than 2.4 million people participated in the primary, a number that government officials declared mathematically impossible given the number of polling stations available and the time it would take for a person to cast a paper ballot. State media attributed Sunday’s lack of waiting time to the rapid speed with which people cast their electronic ballots.
Maduro told supporters celebrating the result that it only took him 15 seconds to vote early Sunday.
The International Court of Justice on Friday ordered Venezuela not to take any action that would change Guyana’s control of the Essequibo, but the judge did not specifically prohibit officials from carrying out Sunday’s five-question referendum. Guyana has asked the court to order Venezuela to stop part of the vote.
A member of the Venezuelan Armed Forces stands on the day of an election referendum on Venezuela’s rights to the potentially oil-rich Esequiba region in Caracas, Venezuela Dec. 3, 2023. REUTERS
While the practical and legal implications of the referendum remain unclear, in comments explaining Friday’s decision, international court president Joan E. Donoghue said statements from the Venezuelan government suggested it “is taking steps with the aim of gaining control over and administering a territory that disputed. “
“In addition, Venezuelan military officials announced that Venezuela is taking concrete steps to build an airstrip to serve as a ‘logistics support point for the integral development of Essequibo,'” he said.
The 61,600-square-mile (159,500-square-kilometer) territory accounts for two-thirds of Guyana and also borders Brazil, whose Defense Ministry earlier this week said in a statement it had “intensified its defense actions” and increased its military presence in the region as a result of the dispute.
Essequibo is larger than Greece and rich in minerals. It also provides access to the Atlantic region where energy giant ExxonMobil discovered oil in commercial quantities in 2015, attracting the attention of Maduro’s government.
The Venezuelan government promoted the referendum for weeks, framing participation as an act of patriotism and often combining it with a show of support for Maduro.
Venezuela has always considered Essequibo its own because the territory was within its borders during the Spanish colonial era, and it has long disputed the border decided by an international arbitrator in 1899 when Guyana was still a British colony.
The border was decided by arbitrators from Britain, Russia and the United States. The US represented Venezuela on the panel partly because the Venezuelan government had severed diplomatic ties with Britain.
President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, greets supporters before giving a speech as the National Electoral Council releases the results of a consultative referendum on Venezuelan sovereignty over Essequibo, in Caracas on Dec. 3, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
Venezuelan officials argue that the Americans and Europeans conspired to cheat their country out of the land and argue that a 1966 agreement to settle the dispute effectively voids the original arbitration.
Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America, maintains the initial agreement is valid and binding and asked the International Court of Justice in 2018 to rule it so, but a decision is still a long way off.
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Voters on Sunday had to answer whether they “agree to reject by all means, according to law,” the 1899 border and whether they support the 1966 treaty “as the only valid legal instrument” to reach a settlement.
“I came to vote because Essequibo is ours, and I hope that whatever they are going to do, they think about it carefully and remember to never endanger peace,” said trader Juan Carlos Rodríguez, 37, after voting at a center in Caracas where only a handful of people are in line.
Maduro has thrown his government fully into the effort. Essequibo-themed music, nationally broadcast history lessons, murals, rallies and social media content helped the government divert public attention from pressing matters, including increasing pressure from the US government on Maduro to release political prisoners and wrongfully detained Americans and guarantee free and fair conditions in next year’s presidential election.
In a visit to Caracas polling stations by The Associated Press, lines of about 30 people could be seen in some of them, while in others, voters did not have to wait at all to cast their ballots. That is in contrast to other election processes when hundreds of people gather outside polling stations early on.
Ángela Albornoz, a grassroots organizer for the ruling party, told the AP she estimated between 23% and 24% of voters assigned to her polling station cast ballots Sunday. Albornoz, 62, said the numbers were below his expectations for an event meant to bring together all Venezuelans “regardless of politics.”
Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali on Sunday sought to reassure Guyanese worried about the referendum, telling them “they have nothing to fear in the coming hours, days, months.” He said Guyana uses diplomacy as the “first line of defense” and is constantly working to ensure that its borders “remain intact.”
“I want to advise Venezuela that this is an opportunity for them to show maturity, an opportunity for them to show responsibility, and we call on them once again to join us in … allowing the rule of law to work and determine this decision. controversy,” said Ali.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
