GEORGETOWN, Guyana — ExxonMobil said it plans to explore for oil and gas in a disputed area off South America’s coast where the Venezuelan military had previously expelled two U.S. oil companies. The move could escalate tensions between Venezuela and neighboring Guyana, which awarded the exploration license. Guyana considers the area part of its Essequibo … Read more
Guyana, a tiny South American nation home to more than 800,000 people, made big headlines in December. The reason? Its neighboring country, Venezuela. Venezuela’s autocratic leader Nicolás Maduro called for a referendum in the first week of December 2023 to seek approval to annex Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s land. Venezuelans approved it … Read more
MEXICO CITY — Venezuela said Saturday it will continue to deploy nearly 6,000 troops until a British military vessel sent to neighboring Guyana leaves the waters off the coast of the two South American nations. In a video posted to X, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino appeared surrounded by military officers in front of a … Read more
BOGOTA, Colombia — President Nicolás Maduro ordered Venezuela’s armed forces to conduct defensive exercises in the Eastern Caribbean after the United Kingdom sent a warship toward Guyana’s territorial waters as the South American neighbors dispute a large border region. In a nationally televised address Thursday, Maduro said that 6,000 Venezuelan troops — including air and … Read more
TOPSHOT – Aerial view of the Essequibo region taken from Guyana on December 12, 2023. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his Guyanese counterpart, Irfaan Ali, will meet on December 14, 2023 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, on their countries’ growing dispute over the oil-rich region of Essequibo, amid mounting international warnings against escalating the … Read more
GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Oil giant ExxonMobil says it will keep ramping up production in offshore Guyana despite the escalation of a territorial dispute with neighboring Venezuela, which claims that oil-rich region as its own. In a brief statement posted Monday on Facebook, ExxonMobil Guyana said it was reaffirming its “long-term commitment to Guyana” as tensions … Read more
GEORGETOWN, Guyana — The government of Guyana, under pressure from neighboring Brazil and a Caribbean trading bloc, agreed Sunday to join bilateral talks with Venezuela over an escalating territorial dispute. The century-old dispute between the two South American nations recently reignited with the discovery of masses of oil in Guyana. The government of Nicolas Maduro, … Read more
CARACAS, Venezuela — A century-old territorial dispute deepened by the discovery of oil is boiling over between neighbors Guyana and Venezuela. Steeped in patriotism, the Venezuelan government is seizing on the fight to boost support ahead of a presidential election among a population fed up with a decadelong crisis that has pushed many into poverty. … Read more
Comment on this storyCommentAdd to your saved storiesSave Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro renewed his country’s ambitions of annexing nearly three-quarters of neighboring, oil-rich Guyana, presenting a map on television that showed Guyana’s Esequibo region as under the jurisdiction of Caracas. To a cheering crowd of supporters, Maduro said he would create a Venezuelan state known … Read more
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered the country’s oil companies to issue extraction licenses in oil-rich Essequibo, a region in neighboring Guyana—increasing tensions between the two countries and reigniting a longstanding territory dispute. The news comes after more than 95% of Venezuelan voters approved a referendum claiming ownership over land—which makes up more than two-thirds … Read more