As the elections in Venezuela draw nearer, we are paying closer attention to what is happening there. From Guyana, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to Donald Trump’s administration, is threatening Nicolás Maduro. What is happening in Guyana?
Various media outlets report that El Esequibo, as Venezuelans call it, is where the US administration is attempting to stifle the Venezuelan oil industry. It is a 60,000-square-kilometer territory that Caracas claims as its own and Guyana, a former British colony located in the Caribbean, effectively controls. The dispute over this territory explains much of what is happening in the area.
It turns out that a huge amount of oil was discovered there a few years ago. Economic projections predicted a future of enormous oil power for Guyana. To extract it, Exxon Mobil set up operations there with political backing from Washington.
The rise in tariffs against Venezuela, the revocation of licenses, and the strategy to strangle its oil production cannot be understood without taking into account US interests in oil. In fact, Trump revoked the license of Chevron, the only company operating alongside Venezuela’s PDVSA, and imposed a 25% tariff on all imports of Venezuelan oil, punishing not only Venezuela but also all its buyers: China, Malaysia, Singapore, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Russia, all countries that import Venezuelan oil.
Without revoking the sanctions against Russia, which was unable to continue selling its oil to the United States, they were also imposed on Caracas, with indirect punishment for its other buyers.
The lack of Russian and Venezuelan crude oil will be compensated, as Marco Rubio wanted, with what Exxon Mobil extracts from Guyana, specifically from the disputed territory. Guyana is believed to have approximately the fourth largest oil reserves in the world. That is why the United States is investing considerable sums in long-term oil extraction.
Over the past three years, Joseph Biden’s administration has attempted to normalize relations with Nicolás Maduro’s government by lifting sanctions on Venezuelan industry.
Guyana has approximately 11 billion barrels of oil, billions of dollars in gold, and an exceptional bauxite supply chain that is not controlled by China. If Maduro definitively annexes El Esequibo, all of this and more will no longer be accessible to the United States and will be easier for “adversaries” such as Beijing.
When Donald Trump announced the introduction of 25% tariffs, Marco Rubio began his tour of the Caribbean with the aim of “strengthening security” of supply lines in Jamaica, Suriname, and, of course, Guyana. To strengthen Guyana against possible threats, joint military exercises between the US Navy and Guyanese defense forces have been carried out—coinciding with Rubio’s visit—turning the area into a hotspot. In fact, in early March, a Venezuelan corvette approached an Exxon Mobil platform, months after Venezuela held a consultative referendum on the disputed territory.
The energy map of the Caribbean is being reconfigured in favor of the Trump administration’s interests. To do so, Venezuela has been sidelined, ending the Petrocaribe initiative so that no country buys barrels from Caracas, and if they do, they are fined, in an attempt to sink Venezuela and replace its production with that of companies located in Guyana.
As if that were not enough, a few days ago, news emerged of an alleged secret energy agreement between the opposition leader, María Corina Machado, and the son of the US president, Donald Trump Jr., which had to be denied by the US special envoy, Richard Grenell, via his social media account. According to speculation, the pact would have involved US support for her leadership aspirations in Venezuela in exchange for control of the South American country’s energy infrastructure. If true, Machado’s behavior would constitute a betrayal of the interests of the Venezuelan nation and people.
Meanwhile, with regional and legislative elections in Venezuela just days away, Guyana’s Chief of Defense Staff, Brigadier Omar Khan, announced that any Venezuelan participating in the elections in El Esequibo “will be arrested and deported,” aiming to prevent participation in the May 25 elections, which include Guyana Esequiba as its 24th state and an area claimed by the Bolivarian Republic on the basis of historical rights over the region. Incidentally, the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, together with the National Electoral Council, is moving forward with the deployment and safeguarding of electoral materials throughout the national territory, including El Esequibo.
On Saturday, May 3, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez made it clear that on the 25th of this month,
“the Venezuelan people will elect the governor of Guyana Esequiba and its regional legislators and the National Assembly in accordance with their National Constitution.”
She affirmed that Caracas will defend its historic rights over that region, which they intend to strip away, and that Guyana has no option but to negotiate within the framework of the Geneva Agreement. “Guyana not only evades international law and its obligations, but also plays its role as Exxon Mobil’s foreman very well,” she said.
