Venezuela voters approve claim to oil-rich swath of Guyana

Venezuelans voted to support their country’s claim to an oil-and-mineral-rich swath of neighbouring Guyana in a referendum on Sunday. The referendum, which Guyana has described as a pretext for “annexation”, marks a new phase in a dispute over the Essequibo region that has escalated since ExxonMobil found oil in the Stabroek block off its coast in 2015. “We have to give a standing ovation to the Venezuelan people,” said Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s strongman socialist president, in a speech in Caracas after the electoral authority announced the results. “[We] have taken the first steps of a new historic phase of fighting for what is ours, and to recover what the liberators left us: Guayana Esequiba”, as the disputed region is known in Venezuela. Maduro did not mention what steps Caracas might take next regarding Essequibo, but he did celebrate the strong turnout. At the start of his speech, he referred to the referendum as “consultative”.