The Venezuela-Guyana Territorial Dispute: A 250-Year-Old Conflict Reignited
The shadow of history looms over present conflicts and can foretell how likely they are to be resolved. The traditional notion that Latin America has fewer inter-state conflicts was challenged last December in a reignited dispute between Venezuela and Guyana over the resource-rich Essequibo territory. Despite international recognition of Guyana’s claim to the territory, Venezuelan voters passed a referendum last December claiming sovereignty over the region and an immediate need to retake the territory.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has staunchly supported the referendum since its passing, telling Guyanese companies they would have three months to leave. In response to the move, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali activated the military and both the U.S. and Britain have sent military assets to the region to decrease tension by deterring Venezuelan military action. Venezuela’s move provoked international condemnation, but the complex disagreement can be better understood through its history and similarity to other territorial conflicts.
The Dispute’s History
Contested claims over the Essequibo region date back to colonial times during the 18th and 19th centuries. Guyana was under the control of nine indigenous groups who were colonized by the Dutch due to the region’s deposits of oil and gold. Both Venezuela and the Guyanese Essequibo region were claimed by Spain despite Dutch colonization, so when Venezuela won its independence from Spain in 1811, Venezuelans believed the Essequibo territory belonged to them on a historical basis. Additionally, indigenous peoples in the Essequibo region frequently interacted with Venezuelans before colonization, and a lack of a shared border or official state during that time contributed to their desire to eliminate any modern division.
The Dutch later ceded Guyana to Great Britain following the Napoleonic Wars in 1814. Then in 1899, the United States initiated negotiations between British-owned Guyana and independent Venezuela in an agreement called the Paris Arbitral Award which affirmed Great Britain’s claim to the Essequibo region.
The Venezuelan government announced in 1962 that they would no longer recognize British sovereignty over the Essequibo region after the publication of the damning Mallet-Prevost diplomatic memorandum. The memorandum was published posthumously on behalf of the lead diplomat to the arbitration’s U.S.-Venezuelan delegation. It alleged that the Russian head judge of the arbitration tribunal, Friedrich Martens, made a secret deal with the British on behalf of the Russian government to accept the majority of Britain's claims to the region, which included land panning from the Cuyuni River in the north to the source of the Kutari river in the southeast. Many believe Martens subsequently pressured the American judges in the tribunal to accept the British ask in hopes of passing a “unanimous” decision to end the dispute. Since Venezuela’s frustration in 1962, nationalist leaders such as Hugo Chávez have capitalized on the arbitration’s controversies to invoke a desire among some Venezuelans to correct what they believe are historical injustices.
Continued discussions have taken place since Guyana gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1966 but have yet to be successful for either party. Despite international efforts to resolve the dispute, Venezuela continues to reject any attempt towards a resolution that does not involve conceding the land they claim is rightfully theirs. Such claims remain staunch even though Guyana considers itself to have a fundamentally different culture and history than Venezuela.
In 2018, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro refused to turn the matter over to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), at which point UN Secretary-General António Guterres did so on their behalf, only to result in Venezuela’s 2023 referendum rejecting the ICJ’s jurisdiction of the dispute earlier that year. The government’s adamant stance in the international community is an honest reflection of domestic sentiments among Venezuelans who feel deprived of land they believe is rightfully theirs.
A map of the disputed Essequibo territory between both countries
Photo Credit: Wikimedia via SurinameCentral
The Stakes for Both Countries
Both countries are unwilling to compromise on such resource-rich land that is vital to their economy and national identity. Guyana sees keeping the Essequibo region as a major catalyst for its economy following a rocky history and internal challenges. For the greater part of the 21st century, Guyana has been racked with poverty and social inequality, and in 2018, it held the highest poverty rate in all of Latin America at 43.4 percent. However, following the 2015 discovery of oil deposits in the Essequibo region, the country has capitalized on oil production and seen unprecedented growth rates in GDP, with a 63.4 percent increase in 2022.
Large investments in the oil industry have rapidly shrunk the country’s poverty rate, and national well-being is at an all-time high. Guyanese President Irfaan Ali explains it best in an interview with Al Jazeera, boldly claiming that the country will “be a leader in food security, agriculture, and most importantly, will be among the best ecotourism destinations in the world” and that “oil revenue will help get us [Guyana] there faster.” Nevertheless, the country seems unwilling to share its resources with any other Latin American state.
A meeting between Guyanian President Irfaan Ali and Brazilian officials
Photo Credit: Wikimedia via Palácio do Planalto
Besides the obvious economic benefits, Venezuela sees its struggle for the territory as a noble venture in honoring the country’s legacy while vindicating itself from years of external political pressure. Venezuela’s governing socialist party has faced criticism for mismanagement of the state-governed economy with improper price controls, unequal distribution of benefits, and untimely state interventions. The United Socialist Party of Venezuela views the resources in the Essequibo region as a way to strengthen the economy and demonstrate socialism’s viability to the international community.
Essequibo’s oil reserves offer hope that Venezuela will be able to cure its economy and set the country on a path to a brighter future. The country’s socialist economy has struggled from hyperinflation, falling oil prices and reserves, and mismanagement of investments in the oil industry. The struggling economy has caused political instability and widespread protests, with over 7.7 million Venezuelans having fled the country in search of basic resources. President Nicolás Maduro secured the presidency from a desperate population after the Great Recession caused a collapse of the country’s oil industry, but continuing public dissatisfaction with the state of the Venezuelan economy puts pressure on Maduro’s government to take the Essequibo region. Especially so as Maduro’s highly consequential reelection campaign is up in the air. He is determined to reinvigorate the Venezuelan economy by any means necessary.
Future Prospects
Venezuela and Guyana begrudgingly pledged in December that they would not resort to violence or make threats to resolve the issue, yet Venezuela amassed troops at the Guyanese border in late January, straining the new agreement. A final resolution to the dispute is now in jeopardy and the years-old conflict is expected to continue. A military conflict would likely fundamentally change British and American military posture in the region and encourage overt interventions by international partners. The dispute between Venezuela and Guyana seems overshadowed by other geopolitical conflicts, but it remains as important as ever for the U.S. and its allies to watch closely.
Photo Credit: Flickr via Joka Madruga