Guyanese military on standby

Less than two weeks before Venezuela votes for governors and deputies in 24 municipalities, neighboring Guyana has placed its military on standby ahead of plans by the Maduro administration to electorally also include voting for Guyana’s western Essequibo region that Venezuela has long claimed as its own.

The Venezuelan electoral council said locals will vote for a governor and eight deputies in the May 25 elections. However, Guyanese authorities say they are taking no chances and preparing for any move Venezuela might make in the coming days.

“To all the citizens of Guyana, those who are living in the territory of Guyana, you have nothing to fear; you are living in what is our sovereign space, and we are going to protect and ensure our sovereign space is respected by all. I want to assure you and all Guyanese that the Guyana Defense Force, the government and every stakeholder, we are putting everything in place to ensure that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana is always protected and safeguarded,” President Irfaan Ali told reporters on the sidelines of a Caribbean police commissioners conference in Guyana this week.

As the clock ticks, Guyanese officials say they are unclear about how the voting will take place, as they are unsure how many ballot boxes and polling stations will be used on election day. Additionally, district boundaries have not yet been identified, nor have officials who will supervise the polls for Guyana’s mineral and oil-rich region. The county accounts for two-thirds of Guyana’s land space.

Tensions have risen exponentially since Guyana found large quantities of offshore oil and gas in 2015. Since then, Venezuela has ordered US supermajor ExonMobil, the leading operator of the bloc, producing around 650,000 barrels of oil daily, to cease operations because it is operating illegally in a disputed area.

In March, Venezuela sent a military vessel right in the middle of the oil-producing area in its latest attempt to assert sovereignty over the area.

Guyana countered by getting the World Court to order “the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to refrain from conducting elections, or preparing to conduct elections, in the territory in dispute, which the Co-operative Republic of Guyana currently administers and over which it exercises control.”

Caracas has said it will not comply with the ruling and will proceed with the elections later this month.