CARACAS, Venezuela – The United States has condemned Venezuela’s attempt to extend its authority over Guyana’s Essequibo region, denouncing the inclusion of the disputed territory in Sunday’s regional and parliamentary elections as a “sham.”
“The United States rejects all attempts by Nicolas Maduro and his illegitimate regime to undermine Guyana’s territorial integrity, including this latest sham election in the Essequibo region,” the US State Department said Sunday in a statement posted on social media platform X.
Venezuelans headed to the polls on Sunday to elect 285 members of the National Assembly, the country’s unicameral legislature, as well as state legislators and all 24 governors, including a newly created governorship purporting to administer the Essequibo region, a territory that legally belongs to Guyana.
The move has further escalated tensions over the oil-rich region, which has been the subject of a longstanding territorial dispute between the two countries. Venezuela claims Essequibo as its own, despite a 1899 international arbitral award that established the current boundary and which Guyana recognises as legally binding.
Guyana has maintained that any Venezuelan actions in the region are illegal.
Sunday’s election for lawmakers and governors—which the National Electoral Council, loyal to the ruling party, is overseeing—is being held against the background of opposition calls to boycott the polls.
“We are facing the most brutal repression in recent years in the country. (The vote) is a comedy, a parody,” opposition leader Humberto Villalobos said from the United States, on the eve of the election.
More than 21 million Venezuelans are registered to vote, but a national poll conducted between April 29 and May 4 by Venezuelan research company Delphos indicated that only 15.9 per cent of voters were highly likely to cast their ballots.
