Guayana Esequiba (Spanish pronunciation:
[ɡwaˈʝana eseˈkiβa] ⓘ), sometimes also called
Esequibo is a disputed territory of 159,500 km2 (61,600 sq mi) west of the
Essequibo River that is administered and controlled by
Guyana but claimed by
Venezuela.
[1][2] The boundary dispute was inherited from the colonial powers (
Spain in the case of Venezuela, and
the Netherlands and
the United Kingdom in the case of Guyana) and has been complicated by the independence of Guyana from the United Kingdom in 1966. The dispute is closely connected to the territorial waters dispute, with Venezuela claiming almost all territorial waters of Guyana, including all processed and potential oilfields.
In 1840, the British government commissioned German-born explorer and
naturalist Robert Hermann Schomburgk to survey
British Guiana's boundaries. This survey resulted in what came to be known as the "
Schomburgk Line", which went well beyond the area of British occupation and gave British Guiana control of the mouth of the
Orinoco River. These borders were disputed by Venezuela, and tensions worsened after the discovery of gold mines in the region in 1876, culminating with Venezuela severing diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom in 1887. The United Kingdom and Venezuela went into arbitration with mediation from the United States, which resulted in the Paris Arbitral Award in 1899,
ruled largely in favour of Britain. In 1949, a memorandum written by
Severo Mallet-Prevost, official secretary of the US–Venezuela delegation in the arbitration, and published postumously stated that the Arbitral Award resulted from the pressure by the Tribunal President Friedrich Martens and a political deal between Russia and Britain. Said memorandum led to complaints by Venezuela in the United Nations in 1962, which resulted in the
Geneva Agreement, signed with the
United Kingdom in 1966.
The status of the territory is subject to the
Geneva Agreement, which was signed by the
United Kingdom, Venezuela and
British Guiana on 17 February 1966. This treaty stipulates that the parties will agree to find a practical, peaceful and satisfactory solution to the dispute.
[3] Should there be a stalemate, according to the treaty, the decision as to the means of settlement is to be referred to an "appropriate international organ" or, failing agreement on this point, to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations.
[3] The Secretary-General referred the entire matter to the
International Court of Justice. On 18 December 2020, the
ICJ accepted the case submitted by Guyana to settle the dispute.
[4]
Currently,
Venezuela claims all of the land west of the
Essequibo river, which it refers to as
Zona en Reclamación or Zone in Reclamation.[
citation needed] Historically, this did not include the
tributaries of the Amazon river and the
Pirara area which were only ceded to
British Guiana in 1904 during arbitration with
Brazil. The Northwestern border of Guayana Esequiba follows the 1905 border as established by the British-Venezuelan Mixed Boundry Commission, in accordance with the
Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899. Venezuela currently seeks to abrogate the legal borders and currently agrees only to the Essequibo river boundary.
The territory is divided by Guyana into six administrative regions:
Barima-Waini,
Cuyuni-Mazaruni,
Pomeroon-Supenaam,
Potaro-Siparuni,
Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo and
Essequibo Islands-West Demerara. Venezuela often depicts it on the map as a striped region.