As Caracas introduced a bill to establish a Venezuelan province in a disputed oil-rich territory and ordered the state oil corporation to grant licenses for extracting crude there, tensions between Venezuela and Guyana increased on Tuesday.
At a government meeting, Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, suggested that a bill for the establishment of a “Guyana Esequiba” province in the area that Guyana has governed for more than a century be forwarded to the National Assembly.
He added that mining, oil, and gas licenses needed to be granted right away.
Venezuela held a controversial non-binding referendum on the region’s fate Sunday that yielded an overwhelming 95-percent “yes” vote for Caracas’ designs on Essequibo, or Esequiba as it is known in Venezuela.
Maduro gave an ultimatum to oil companies working under concessions given by Guyana to withdraw their operations within three months.
He also said a town bordering the disputed area, Tumeremo, would become headquarters of Venezuelan efforts to defend its interests there, saying authorities would conduct a census and begin issuing identity cards without giving details of how that would occur.
Guyana had earlier on Tuesday threatened to stop Venezuela’s actions after the referendum by filing an urgent application with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. If Venezuela proceeds on after the referendum, Guyana would seek assistance from the UN Security Council.
According to Anil Nandlall, the attorney general of Guyana, “any action or any attempt to take any action pursuant to the referendum will necessitate a resort to the UN Security Council as an injured party.”
He declared that Guyana would make use of UN Charter Articles 41 and 42, which permit military action or sanctions in order to preserve or restore world peace and security.
“In terms of military, it (the UNSC) can authorize the use of armed forces by member states to assist in the enforcement” of ICJ orders, Nandlall said.
