Guyana-Venezuela Border Dispute

The land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela has been disputed since its colonial inception between British and Spanish powers in South America.
In the 1840s, the British government had the border unilaterally surveyed, but the proposed line encroached on Venezuelan territorial claims.
The boundary has since been arbitrated (1899) and bilaterally agreed upon following demarcation (1905) but remains in conflict.
While the British line, accepted by Guyana, is the current de facto boundary, Venezuela maintains a historic claim to all territory currently administered by Guyana west of the Essequibo River.
Venezuelan contents that the Arbitral Award of 1899 about the frontier between British Guiana and Venezuela is null and void.

Venezuela’s claim along the Essequibo River extends for 1,034 kilometers before reaching Brazilian territory.
At stake is approximately 142,795 square kilometers that is currently administered by Guyana.
Offshore the disputed land territory is maritime space that was recently discovered to be rich in hydrocarbon resources, upping the stakes of the land boundary dispute.

Guyana submitted the dispute to the International Court of Justice in 2018.
Despite Venezuela’s withdrawal from the case, proceedings are currently ongoing.

Guyana is the world’s fastest-growing economy (GDP growth of 62.3% in 2022) and is on track to grow by more than 100% by 2028. The growth is largely fueled by profits from its oil production and export sector.
It is a country on the northern mainland of South America.
Guyana is an indigenous word that means “Land of Many Waters”.
The capital city is Georgetown.
It is the third-smallest sovereign state by area in mainland South America after Uruguay and Suriname.
Bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Brazil to the south and southwest, Venezuela to the west, and Suriname to the east.

Venezuela has the world’s largest known oil reserves and has been one of the world’s leading exporters of oil.
Capital and largest city- Caracas.
Colonized by Spain in 1522.
It was a part of the Republic of Colombia and separated as a full sovereign country in 1830.

Essequibo River, a river in east central Guyana, is the largest river between the Amazon and the Orinoco.
It rises in the Acarai Mountains on the Brazilian border and flows northward for approximately 630 miles (1,010 km) through savannas and forests to the Atlantic Ocean.
It reaches the Atlantic Ocean 13 miles (21 km) west-northwest of Georgetown, the national capital, of -Guyana.
Its estuary, 20 miles (32 km) wide, is obstructed by islands and silt.
With its chief tributaries, the Rupununi, Mazaruni, and Cuyuni, its system drains more than half of Guyana.
The River is administered by Guyana. However, Venezuela has, for decades, laid claim to Essequibo.
Venezuela has claimed that the Essequibo River to the region’s east forms a natural border and has historically been recognized as such.

India, with diasporic ties, supports Guyana; the US also backs Guyana’s sovereignty.

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