Venezuela's Controversial Vote on Guyana's Oil-Rich Region Sparks Tensions

Venezuelans are voting in a referendum to gauge support for their historical claim to the Essequibo region, an oil-rich area currently administered by Guyana. The dispute over the territory has been ongoing for over a century, with Venezuela rejecting a 1899 arbitral award that granted the area to Britain, the colonial power ruling over Guyana at the time. The tension escalated in 2015 when ExxonMobil discovered oil in Essequibo's offshore waters. Guyana took the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2018, and while the ICJ has ruled that it has jurisdiction, it has yet to decide on the merits of the case. The referendum has been criticized as a tactic by President Maduro to distract from calls for free and fair elections, and Guyana has condemned it as an aggressive attempt at annexation.