CARACAS, January 9. /TASS/. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reaffirmed Venezuela’s historical territorial rights to Guyana Essequibo, the disputed border region controlled by neighboring Guyana, as he approved a plan for the South American country’s parliament to pass a law in the second reading for establishing Venezuela’s 24th state in the territory.

"The December 3 referendum, in the holding of which the National Assembly played a key role, triggered a powerful force of consent to defend [Venezuela’s] historical rights to Guyana Essequibo," Maduro told a meeting with the leaders of Venezuela’s political factions on Monday, which was broadcast by Venezuelan television.

Maduro maintained that his nation "can protect what belongs to us" as he described Venezuela as "a fighting people who made history in [Latin] America." He also criticized the government of Guyana, which he said is acting as a government of the "former British Guiana, or today’s British colony under gringo administration," using a derogatory Spanish term used by some Latin Americans to describe people from the United States.

"I am very happy as I celebrate and applaud Venezuela’s National Assembly, which has expanded its legislative agenda to include a final vote on the Guyana Essequibo law," Maduro said. On December 6, 2023, Venezuela’s parliament passed a bill in the first reading for formally establishing the State of Guyana Essequibo as Venezuela’s 24th state.

The dispute between Caracas and Georgetown over ownership of the 159,500 square kilometer territory west of the Essequibo River has been ongoing for over a century. The territorial dispute has been further aggravated by the discovery in 2015 of oil fields containing at least 10 bln barrels of oil and the granting by Guyana of a concession to oil major ExxonMobil for petroleum production on Guyana’s continental shelf, the boundaries of which have not been demarcated.