Venezuelans voted in favor of President Nicolás Maduro’s government’s intentions to have Venezuela annex the territory of Esequibo in a dispute with neighboring Guyana, the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced.
“[Foi] a clear and overwhelming victory for ‘yes’ in the consultative referendum on Esequibo,” said the Chairman of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, this Sunday, stressing that the plebiscite yielded 10,554,320 votes.
According to the CNE, 97.83% of votes responded positively to the first question, agreeing “to reject by all means, in accordance with the law, the fraudulent line imposed by the Paris arbitration decision of 1899” and 2, 17% voted against.
Regarding the second question, 98.11% said they “supported the 1966 Geneva Agreement as the only valid legal instrument to achieve a practical and satisfactory solution for Venezuela and Guyana regarding the dispute”, while 1 .8% voted against.
In the third question, 95.40% of votes were in favor of “Venezuela’s historic position not to recognize the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice to resolve the territorial dispute”, while 4.10% voted against.
To the next question, 95.94% of the votes answered affirmatively “to oppose, by all means and in accordance with the law, Guyana’s claim to unilaterally dispose of an unlimited sea, illegal and contrary to international straight”. IN the opposite direction, 4.06% voted against.
On the fifth and final question, 95.93% of the votes were in favor of “the establishment of the State of Guyana Esequibo and the development of an accelerated plan for the comprehensive care of the present and future population of that territory, including, inter alia, the provision of Venezuelan citizenship and identity cards, in accordance with the Geneva Agreement and international law, including that state on the map of Venezuelan territory,” while 4.07% of voters voted against.
The Esequibo region, which appears on Venezuelan maps as a “zone under claim,” has been under UN mediation since 1966, when the Geneva Agreement was signed.
Covering an area of 160,000 square kilometers (km2) and rich in minerals, the Esequibo is under the administration of Guyana, based on a document signed in Paris in 1899, which establishes territorial boundaries that Venezuela does not accept.
The controversy increased in recent years after North American oil company Exxon Mobil discovered several crude oil deposits in the territorial waters of the disputed area in 2015.
Source: DN
