Venezuela warns oil companies operating on the Essequibo shelf and gives them 3 months to stop

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared the disputed Essequibo region with Guyana an “integrated defense zone” and gave oil companies operating in the undivided sea three months to stop their operations.

President Maduro said during the Federal Government Council meeting: “I offer all these companies 3 months to complete operations in the undivided sea. We are open to negotiations, only in a friendly manner, with respect for international law, and as good neighbourliness.”

Last Sunday, Venezuelans began casting their votes in a referendum that Caracas hopes will strengthen its century-old demands to annex the oil-rich Essequibo region , which is under the administration of neighboring Guyana.

Venezuela has been claiming sovereignty over the region for decades, knowing that its area of ​​160,000 square kilometers represents more than two-thirds of the area of ​​Guyana, while its population of 125,000 constitutes a fifth of the total population in Guyana.

Caracas confirms that the Essequibo River, located east of the region, represents the natural border between the two countries, as declared in 1777 under Spanish rule, and that the United Kingdom wrongly acquired Venezuelan lands in the nineteenth century.

But Guyana confirms that the border was established during the British colonial era, and was confirmed by an arbitration court in 1899.