How Guyana’s big oil boom turned it into the world’s fastest-growing economy

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

U.S. swaps Maduro ally for ‘Fat Leonard’ in Venezuela prisoner exchange

US President Joe Biden speaks on his economic policies at the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on December 20, 2023. Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images The United States on Wednesday released from jail an accused money launderer close to Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro in exchange for that country sending home … Read more

Venezuela and Guyana pledge not to use force in territory dispute

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