The exploitation of newly found oil reserves larger than those of the United Arab Emirates or Kuwait by U.S. oil giants triggered the escalating aggression by the White House.
After decades of economic punishment, coup attempts, and all manner of threats by the Pentagon, the U.S. State Department, and the White House, Venezuela is not taking this situation lying down. President Nicolas Maduro called a referendum on the issue of the disputed area, Essequibo, on Dec. 3.
The vote confirmed near-total support from the Venezuelan people for defending against the imperialist plans to establish a hostile presence on their border while further enriching the biggest energy corporations in the world.
Why is the land in dispute? Before oil was found, who owned it?
Guyana, since 1899. This is quite literally propaganda trying to drum up support for Venezuela’s illegal invasion via tying the USA’s support for Guyana to the Isreal - Palestine war.
Only actual idiots would fall for this.
It was disputed before the oil was found, but the ownership wasn’t pushed much because the land was not particularly valuable.
In colonial times, first, both were owned by Spain. Then the Dutch colonized Guyana, but a definite border was never set between Guyana and Venezuela. Then the British conquered Guyana from the Dutch. The border dispute was inherited by Venezuela and Guyana.
It’s not as simple as “Guyana has oil, Venezuela wants oil, Venezuela is invading Guyana for their oil.” Instead, oil has been found mostly offshore of land Venezuela has always claimed as its own. On top of this, the oil is mostly being extracted by countries that officially consider Venezuela an enemy state, and those countries are deploying their military forces much closer to Venezuela’s undisputed territory than their own (though this is, of course, nothing new to the United States, who don’t even hesitate to conduct patrols in the South China Sea, let alone the South Caribbean).
It’s impossible to say for sure, but if Guyana wasn’t solidly aligning itself with the United States and its corporations, it’s unlikely that tensions would be as high as they are.
Venezuela had the US represent it in a boundary dispute with the UK over British Guiana. They settled things back in 1899. Then in 1962 Venezuela decided to stop recognizing that settlement. The UN has been pushed Arbitration several times and given steps to settle it but it has not officially been resettled. The UK and Guyana have administered the area the entire time. Venezuela has no legitimate claims and it is basically sour grapes that Maduro is using to distract his shitty his dictatorship is.
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