Since large quantities of oil were discovered in the Essequibo territory of Guyana, Venezuela and Guyana have been at odds with each other over whose territory it belongs to. On December 14th, the two nations plan to meet, with Brazil’s president acting as witness, to discuss Venezuela’s recent claim on annexation. Although the upcoming peace talk is to discuss this issue, Guyana’s president claimed that “Guyana’s land boundary is not up for discussion.” Two Latin American regional blocs, the CELAC and CARICOM, will also attend the meeting to mediate between the two clashing parties. While the territory is currently under Guyana’s property, Venezuela asserts ownership due to its historical relation with the territory.
It’s important to delve into what would occur if Venezuela gained this territory. With nearly ⅛ of Guyana’s population living in Essequibo, these people would now be part of Venezuela, a country that doesn’t speak their language (Guyana’s official language is English) nor has the same currency. Although this doesn’t mean that Essequibo would fall into anarchy, the people would not be pleased with the changes that they’d have to go through and the change would certainly cause unrest. Similarly, Venezuela has been known for its vast oil reserves and its position in the global energy trade, so it’s interesting to see that they’re willing to go this far for more oil reserves even though they have large quantities of their own. It’s important to note that at the same time, their government is undergoing a very unstable period of corruption and their people are also in great poverty, so perhaps obtaining the oil would greatly boost their economy. It’s difficult to believe that people are still “conquering” and trying to annex other countries today–it feels like something of the past. Looking at it as an American and how we were greatly involved in global affairs, I’ve heard nothing about this in the news, considering that a country is impeding on another country’s sovereignty, something we firmly stand against.
In class, we’ve spoken about constructivist theory and how it relates a country’s behavior to its historical identity throughout history. Something that Venezuela brought up while discussing their claim over Essequibo was the fact that they historically owned that place. This relates to constructivist theory because it gives them reason to claim ownership and dictates the behavior that Venezuela took in this situation. Furthermore, in the article, the Brazilian president claims that his presence as an observer would be to “avoid unilateral measures that could escalate the situation.” We’ve spoken about how unilateral action is more of a realist perspective, where cooperation and discussions with other nations do not occur out of self-interest and security.