Map of Guyana: “Disputed Territory” (salmon-pink) claimed by Venezuela
Source: Caracas Chronicles

Guyana struck black gold in May 2015! American oil giant ExxonMobil estimates that their find amounts to at least 700 million barrels of crude oil, valued at US$40 billion, over ten times Guyana’s entire economy (GDP). The elation of Guyana’s newly-elected government was short-lived. Within weeks, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro issued a decree claiming sovereignty over the ExxonMobil’s drill site along with the rest of Guyana’s territorial waters off the Essequibo region. [That Guyana should keep it in the ground is another story.]

Venezuela persists in a belief that the entire region west of the Essequibo River, including the islands in the river, is rightfully theirs. With over 50,000 square miles of savanna and forest cover, the Essequibo Region makes up about two-thirds of Guyana’s total territory. Continue reading →