Brazil takes a hands-off approach to Venezuela-Guyana tensions

Brazilian dragoons prepare the Guyanese flag ahead of a state visit in Brasília last year. Photo: Marcos Corrêa/PR

Brazil’s top ambassador for Latin American affairs said Thursday that Venezuela’s upcoming referendum for citizens to decide whether the country should claim sovereignty over a vast area of Guyana is an “internal affair.”

Venezuela will hold a non-binding referendum on Sunday on whether the country should claim sovereignty over Essequibo, a vast mineral-rich area that makes up about two-thirds of neighboring country Guyana. All Venezuelans over the age of 18 are eligible to vote.

In December 2020, the International Court of Justice ruled 12-4 that the 1899 award of the Essequibo region to Great Britain (Guyana was then a colony) was valid and binding. In 1966, the year Guyana became independent, the United Kingdom and Venezuela signed an agreement establishing a joint commission to resolve the land dispute.

This month, Guyana asked the court to issue injunctions to prevent Venezuela from claiming the territory. A ruling has been announced for tomorrow.

President Irfaan Ali of Guyana traveled to Essequibo in late October and declared that the region “is ours, every square inch of it.”

The dispute intensified when ExxonMobil discovered massive oil reserves off the coast of Guyana in 2015 — much of them in Essequibo. The company says wells in the region have an estimated capacity of 11 billion barrels of oil, with a projected production capacity of over 1.2 million barrels per day by 2027.

In a press conference on Thursday, Ambassador Gisela Maria Padovan reiterated Brazil’s position for the peaceful resolution of disputes and the “inadmissibility” of acquiring territory by force. She also said the referendum is likely to obtain a majority in favor of annexation, as Essequibo is one of the few topics on which Venezuela’s government and opposition agree.

She added that Brazil is following the matter “with concern,” and reiterated that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s top foreign policy advisor, Celso Amorim, was recently in Caracas to hold talks on the issue “at the highest level.”

Ms. Padovan also said that the Venezuela-Guyana dispute is not on the agenda for the upcoming summit in Rio of the heads of state of Mercosur, the trade alliance formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The summit is scheduled for December 6-7.

In September 2022, during the Jair Bolsonaro administration, Brazil abstained on a UN Security Council resolution condemning Russia’s declared annexation of four Ukrainian provinces.