Guyana–Venezuela crisis (2023–2024)

Dutch colonies , 1638 Essequibo started off as a colony of the Dutch and was founded by colonists from the first Zeelandic colony, Pomeroon, conquered in 1581, which had been destroyed by Spaniards and local warriors around 1596. Led by Joost van der Hooge, the Zeelanders travelled to an island called Kyk-Over-Al near the Essequibo River (actually a tributary called the Mazaruni). Dutch colonisation of the Guianas occurred primarily between the mouths of the Orinoco River in the west and the Amazon River to the east. In 1658, cartographer Cornelis Goliath created a map of the colony and made plans to build a city there called "New Middelburg", but the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–67) put an end to these plans. Essequibo was occupied by the British in 1665 (along with all other Dutch colonies in the Guianas), and then plundered by the French. The following years the Zeelanders sent a squadron of ships to retake the area. While the Suriname colony was captured from the English by Abraham Crijnssen, the by-then abandoned Essequibo was occupied by Matthys Bergenaar. After 1745, the number of plantations along the Demerara River and its tributaries rapidly increased, resulting with the Demerara colony. Particularly, British colonists from Barbados began settling here. After 1750 a commander of the British population was assigned, giving them their own representation. Around 1780 a small central settlement was established at the mouth of the Demerara River, which received the name Stabroek in 1784, named after one of the directors of the West Indian Company. A group of British privateers captured Essequibo and Demerara on 24 February 1781, but did not stay. In March, two sloops of a Royal Navy squadron under Admiral Lord Rodney accepted the surrender of "Colony of Demarary and the River Essequebo". From 27 February 1782 to February 1783 the French occupied the colony after compelling Governor Robert Kinston to surrender. The peace of Paris, which occurred in 1783, restored these territories to the Dutch. British Guiana In 1796, the Essequibo was permanently occupied by the British and by 1800, Essequibo and Demerara collectively held around 380 sugarcane plantations. But it also became involved in one of Latin America's most persistent border disputes because the new colony had the Essequibo river as its west border with the Spanish Captaincy General of Venezuela. Although Spain still claimed the region, the Spanish did not contest the treaty because they were preoccupied with their own colonies' struggles for independence. In 1822, independence leader Simón Bolívar ordered his representative in London, José Rafael Revenga, to present an official complaint to the British authorities, writing: "The settlers of Demerara and Berbice have usurped a large portion of land that according to the last treaties between Spain and Holland belong to us on this side of the Essequibo River. [...] that said colonists place themselves under the jurisdiction and obedience of our laws or withdraw to their former possessions". After Venezuela obtained its independence in 1830, it defined its borders as those that made up the former Captaincy General of Venezuela, which included the Essequibo region. On 21 July 1831, Demerara-Essequibo was united with Berbice to create British Guiana. Under the aegis of the Royal Geographical Society, the German-born explorer and naturalist Robert Hermann Schomburgk conducted botanical and geographical exploration of British Guiana in 1835. This resulted in a sketch of the territory with a line marking what he believed to be the western boundary claimed by the Dutch. As a result of this, he was commissioned in 1840 by the British government to survey Guiana's boundaries. This survey resulted in what came to be known as the "Schomburgk Line". The line went well beyond the area of British occupation and gave British Guiana control of the mouth of the Orinoco River. Schomburgk's initial sketch, which had been published in 1840, was the only version of the "Schomburgk Line" published until 1886, which led to later accusations by US President Grover Cleveland that the line had been extended "in some mysterious way". In 1876, gold mines inhabited mainly by English-speaking people had been established in the Cuyuni basin, which was Venezuelan territory beyond the Schomburgk line but within the area Schomburgk thought Britain could claim. That year, Venezuela reiterated its claim up to the Essequibo River, to which the British responded with a counterclaim including the entire Cuyuni basin, although this was a paper claim the British never intended to pursue. In 1949, the US jurist Otto Schoenrich gave the Venezuelan government a memorandum written by Mallet-Prevost, which was written in 1944 to be published only after his death. Mallet-Prevost surmised from the private behaviour of the judges that there had been a political deal between Russia and Britain, and said that the Russian chair of the panel, Friedrich Martens, had visited Britain with the two British arbitrators in the summer of 1899, and subsequently had offered the two American judges a choice between accepting a unanimous award along the lines ultimately agreed, or a 3-to-2 majority opinion even more favourable to the British. The alternative would have followed the Schomburgk Line entirely, and given the mouth of the Orinoco to the British. Mallet-Prevost said that the American judges and Venezuelan counsel were disgusted at the situation and considered the 3-to-2 option with a strongly worded minority opinion, but ultimately went along with Martens to avoid depriving Venezuela of even more territory. Guyana Venezuela signed the Geneva Agreement in 1966 with the United Kingdom prior to the independence of Guyana, which occurred that same year, which established bases for a negotiated solution to the territorial dispute. In 1969, the Rupununi uprising occurred in an attempt by ranch owners to secede from Guyana. By 1970, after the expiry of the Mixed Commission established according to the 1966 Geneva Agreement, Presidents Rafael Caldera and Forbes Burnham signed the Port of Spain Protocol, which declared a 12-year moratorium on Venezuela's reclamation of the Essequibo, with the purpose of allowing both governments to promote cooperation and understanding while the border claim was in abeyance. In 1983, the deadline of the Port of Spain Protocol expired, and the Venezuelan President Luis Herrera Campins decided not to extend it anymore and resume the effective claim over the territory. Into the 21st century, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez eased border tensions with Guyana under advice of his mentor Fidel Castro and in 2004, Chávez said during a visit in Georgetown, Guyana, that he considered the dispute to be finished. ExxonMobil has been involved in multiple disputes with Venezuela over such assets, with US analyst Steve LeVine considering it was very litigious and "sending a signal" to others considering interfering with their contracts, with multiple defeated attempts at arbitration over sixteen years, the latest submitted on 27 November 2023. Guyana discovers oil deposits in their exclusive economic zone Venezuela became more aggressive towards Guyana during the administration of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. but its Venezuelan counterpart sent a diplomatic note to Guyana stating that the ship was conducting oil research in Venezuelan waters with no authorisation from the country, and demanded an explanation. Maduro visited Guyana and discussed the dispute. In Georgetown, Maduro affirmed that the Geneva Agreement was signed by "an old Acción Democrática government and the old British Empire" as part of a "psyop, through contempt and racism, to invade Guyana". Guyana handed new oil concessions to ExxonMobil in 2014, whose Venezuelan assets Chávez had nationalised seven years prior. In 2015, Venezuela accused ExxonMobil of breaching international law while drilling for oil in Guyana, and a minor crisis broke out wherein Guyanese authorities seized the Venezuelan vessel Yakuana, in Guyana's territorial waters, with both parts demanding an explanation for the other; they later agreed to meet to try to improve delimitation of each other's territorial waters. Maduro announced in 2015 that he would take the dispute to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and in 2018 Guyana initiated an arbitration proceeding against Venezuela to decide the validity of the 1899 Paris Award. Guyanese Natural Resources Minister Rafael Trotman admitted that ExxonMobil had financially backed Guyana for legal disputes, in addition to a "non-disclosed signing bonus" paid by ExxonMobil according to then president David Granger. ExxonMobil Country Manager, Rod Henson, said the payments were customary and usual for petroleum agreements. Guyanese experts noted the government had ignored environmental concerns and that ExxonMobil had no oversight and its executives were frequently seen with top officials, with ExxonMobil having embarked on a public relations and regulatory capture campaign. Following further discoveries of oil and gas fields, on 19 September 2023, Guyana authorised six foreign oil companies including ExxonMobil to drill in the waters claimed by Venezuela. In October, ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) President, Alistair Routledge, told reporters that "we have not been scared away by Venezuela…that's why we're still working in Guyana. That's why we anticipate continuing to do so for decades to come". Guyana also criticised Venezuela for rejecting the ICJ's prerogative to rule on the matter after it rejected their proposal of establishing direct talks instead. ==Timeline of events==