CARACAS, December 5. /TASS/. The US’ reaction to Venezuela’s referendum on its territorial dispute with Guyana shows Washington does not understand how democracy works, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The United States <...> is doing little else but repeatedly showing its disregard for international law and its inability to understand the processes that allow truly free nations to democratically participate in making decisions on fundamental issues," the statement reads.
Caracas called it "unacceptable interference" that US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller said it was impossible to resolve the territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana through a plebiscite.
Territorial dispute
About 95% of participants in the December 3 consultative referendum voted in favor of creating the Guayana Esequiba state and making it part of Venezuela. Guyana and Venezuela have been at odds over a 159,000-square-kilometer territory west of the Essequibo River for over 100 years.
Tensions flared up after oil fields containing at least ten bln barrels of oil had been discovered in 2015 and Guyana provided the ExxonMobil company with a concession to explore oil in the offshore areas that had not been delimited. In September, seven more multinational companies, including China National Offshore Oil Corporation, QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies, received offshore oil drilling licenses from Guyana’s government.
In April, the UN International Court of Justice found Guyana’s lawsuit against Venezuela on border demarcation based on the 1899 decision of a Paris arbitral tribunal to be admissible. The court ruling, which cited fake maps and huge pressure from the UK, handed 90% of the disputed area to London’s colony, British Guiana. Venezuela views Guayana Esequiba as its legitimate territory and believes that the dispute does not fall under the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and insists on direct border demarcation talks with Guyana, as provided for in the 1966 Geneva Agreement.