Concerns have grown that a new international war could emerge after a nation with ties to Russia and China held a vote on invading an oil rich neighbour
BREAKING| A new flashpoint for international conflict is brewing after a Latin American government declared an overwhelming victory in a referendum that asked voters if it should be able to annex two-thirds of a neighbouring oil-rich country, “by all means”.
Venezuela, a near dictatorship with close links to Russia and China, said an astonishing 95 per cent of voters backed the territorial claim to the Essequibo region of Guyana.
On the streets of Caracas people were seen holding flags with an adjusted map of Venezuela which included the region in Guyana.
There are fears Venezuela’s President Nicholas Maduro, who has been in power for a decade and has trampled democracy, could follow a Russian playbook of using disputed referendums, elections and misinformation in an attempt to justify military action.
Venezuela has long claimed the Essequibo region but its rhetoric has increased since oil was found there which some have said could turn Guyana, one of the poorest states on the continent, into a South American version of the rich United Arab Emirates.
Guyana is the only English speaking nation in Latin America. Its population, of not even one million, pales against Venezuela’s 28 million.
Last week, Brazil said it had beefed up the military presence on its northern border with Venezuela close to Guyana.
While Venezuela hasn’t said what action, if any, may result from the referendum, Guyana’s foreign minister, Hugh Todd, told The Guardian that people in Essequibo were “very concerned”.
“Maduro is a despotic leader, and despotic leaders are very hard to predict.”
