Venezuela’s Maduro orders foreign companies to leave Guyanese concessions

Last Updated on Tuesday, 5 December 2023, 21:43 by Denis Chabrol

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced that foreign companies working in the disputed Guyanese county of Essequibo would have to withdraw within three months, asserting his right to do so after Venezuelan voters backed their nation’s control of the territory in a referendum Sunday, Bloomberg reported Tuesday night.

Guyana has insisted that the Essequibo is within its borders, and the matter is currently in front of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), though Maduro has said he doesn’t recognize its jurisdiction.

“I propose a special law to prohibit all companies that work under Guyana concessions from any transaction,” Maduro said. “They have three months to withdraw” once his proposal is approved, he said.

Maduro hasn’t yet dispatched any military forces to enforce his demands. On Tuesday, he said he’d create a military unit for the disputed territory but that it would be based in a neighboring Venezuelan state.

He on Tuesday announced a set of actions to be taken by the Government to implement the result of the December 3 referendum.

The headquarters for a number of administrative activities would, however, be located in Tumeremo in Venezuela, about 101  kilometres (63 miles) west of the Guyana border.  Notably, Tumeremo is located within the internationally recognised boundary of Venezuela and not in Essequibo which it is claiming.

The pro-government Telesur reported Tuesday night that the following are the seven actions for the new phase in the defense of Guyana Essequiba:

1. Creation of a new High Commission for the Defense of Guyana Esequiba, coordinated by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.

2. Immediately activate the debate in the NA for the approval of the Organic Law for the defense of the Essequiba Guyana.

3. Create the Zone of Integral Defense of the Guayana Esequiba with 3 areas and 28 sectors of integral development, to be located in Tumeremo.

4. Designate MG Alexis Rodríguez Cabello as Sole Authority of the Guayana Esequiba whose political and administrative headquarters will be located in Tumeremo.

5. To create the divisions of PDVSA Esequibo and CVG Esequibo for the exploration and exploitation of gas, oil and mining.

6. To publish and disseminate in schools, high schools and universities of the country the new Map of Venezuela that includes the Guayana Esequiba.

7. Activate an Integral Social Attention Plan for the entire population of Guayana Esequiba that includes a Census and the opening of an Administrative Service for Identification, Migration and Immigration (SAIME) office for the delivery of identification cards to the population based in Tumeremo

Already, Attorney General Anil Nandlall has said that if Venezuela violates the International Court of Justice (ICJ order that Venezuela must not take any action which would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute, whereby Guyana administers and exercises control over Essequibo, his country will ask the United Nations Security Council to authorise the imposition of economic sanctions or take military action to enforce that order.

United States (US) State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller on Monday urged Veneziela and Guyana to seek a peaceful resolution of their dispute. “This is not something that will be settled by a referendum,” he said, but President Maduro lashed back on Tuesday, insisting that the 1966 Geneva Agreement is the basis for finding a solution rather than the International Court of Justice (ICJ).