Venezuelans vote in referendum over large swath of territory under dispute with Guyana

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans are voting in a referendum Sunday to supposedly decide the future of a large swath of neighbouring Guyana that their government claims ownership of, arguing the territory was stolen when a north-south border was drawn more than a century ago.

Guyana considers the referendum a step toward annexation, and the vote has its residents on edge.

It asks Venezuelans whether they support establishing a state in the disputed territory, known as Essequibo, granting citizenship to current and future area residents and rejecting the jurisdiction of the United Nations' top court in settling the disagreement between the two South American countries.

“We are solving through constitutional, peaceful and democratic means an imperial dispossession of 150 years,” President Nicolás Maduro said after voting in a military complex in Caracas, the capital.

The International Court of Justice on Friday ordered Venezuela not to take any action that would alter Guyana's control over Essequibo, but the judges did not specifically ban officials from carrying out Sunday's five-question referendum. Guyana had asked the court to order Venezuela to halt parts of the vote.

The legal and practical implications of the referendum remain unclear. But in comments explaining Friday's verdict, international court president Joan E. Donoghue said statements from Venezuela's government suggest it “is taking steps with a view toward acquiring control over and administering the territory in dispute.”

“Furthermore, Venezuelan military officials announced that Venezuela is taking concrete measures to build an airstrip to serve as a 'logistical support point for the integral development of the Essequibo,'” she said.

The 61,600-square-mile (159,500-square-kilometre) territory accounts for two-thirds of Guyana and also borders Brazil, whose Defence Ministry earlier this week in a statement said it has “intensified its defence actions” and boosted its military presence in the region as a result of the dispute.

Venezuela's government promoted the referendum for weeks, framing participation as an act of patriotism, and often conflating it with a show of support for Maduro.

Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America, maintains the initial accord is legal and binding and asked the International Court of Justice in 2018 to rule it as such, but a ruling is years away.

Voters on Sunday will have to answer whether they “agree to reject by all means, in accordance with the law,” the 1899 boundary and whether they support the 1966 agreement “as the only valid legal instrument” to reach a solution.

Maduro and his allies are urging voters to answer “yes” to all five questions in the referendum.

Venezuelans hold as self-evident truth that their homeland's eastern end includes the Essequibo region. They learn about the territorial dispute from a young age, with textbooks including the historical background and maps marking the territory with diagonal lines.

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