CARACAS, April 4. /TASS/. Venezuela has enacted and officially promulgated an organic law for the protection of Essequibo, which is recognized as Venezuelan territory, and provides for the creation of the State of Guayana Esequiba as Venezuela’s 24th state on the territory of Essequibo, jurisdiction over which is disputed with neighboring Guyana.
"Chapter 2 of the law provides for the establishment of the 24th [Venezuelan] state of Guayana Esequiba in the political-territorial organization of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela," President Nicolas Maduro said during a ceremony formally approving the law, which was broadcast by Venezolana de Television.
The head of state said that the residents of the new state will have the opportunity to take part in Venezuela’s 2025 legislative elections to choose members of the National Assembly, the Venezuelan parliament. He announced the creation of the High Commission for the Protection of Guayana Esequiba.
"The law prohibits the issuance of political maps that do not include Guayana Esequiba [as part of Venezuela]," Maduro pointed out. He said that it also prohibits "the awarding of contracts to legal entities that carry out work in undemarcated sections of the land border with Guyana and on the offshore shelf." The law provides for the establishment and operation of subdivisions of Venezuelan state oil and gas company PDVSA, the Venezuelan Corporation of Guyana and other companies in Venezuela’s newest state.
Venezuela's position on the demarcation of its border with Guyana through direct negotiations based on the 1966 Geneva Convention is enshrined in law.
Venezuela's conflict with Guyana
Venezuela and Guyana have been at odds over a 159,500-square-kilometer area west of the Essequibo River for more than a century. It makes up more than two-thirds of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and is home to 283,000 people. Tensions flared up after oil fields containing at least 10 bln barrels of oil were discovered in 2015 and Guyana awarded a concession to oil major ExxonMobil to explore for oil in those offshore areas that had not been demarcated.
On December 14, 2023, Venezuela and Guyana agreed not to use force over their border dispute, following negotiations in Kingstown, capital of the Caribbean island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Both parties also committed to ensuring that Latin America remains a zone of peace and said that they would refrain from escalating the situation in the disputed border region. At the same time, the parties have taken opposing positions on the resolution of the conflict.
In April 2023, Guyana had taken the issue of border demarcation with Venezuela to the UN International Court of Justice. Venezuela, which recognizes Essequibo as its own territory, believes that the conflict is beyond the jurisdiction of the court. Caracas insists that the border be demarcated through direct negotiations with Georgetown, as provided for in the 1966 Geneva Accords.