Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday called for a bill to create a “Guyana Esequiba” province and ordered Venezuelan companies to prepare to enter the territory to explore for fossil fuels and minerals “immediately”. The move escalated tensions over the disputed oil-rich territory.

Maduro said he will proceed “to grant operating licenses for the exploration and exploitation of oil, gas, and mines in the entire area of our Essequibo”. He demanded that Guyanese companies working in the territory leave within three months.

Guyanese President Irfaan Ali rejected the measures as a “direct threat” against his country and threatened to take the case to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Guyana, of which Essequibo makes up more than two-thirds and hosts 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens, has administered the territory since the frontiers were determined by an arbitration panel in 1899.

“Any action or any attempt to take any action pursuant to the referendum will necessitate a resort to the UN Security Council as an injured party,” Guyana’s Attorney General Anil Nandlall said. “In terms of military, it (the UNSC) can authorise the use of armed forces by member states to assist in the enforcement” of ICJ orders, Nandlall said.

Maduro’s statements follow Sunday’s (December 3, 2023) controversial referendum to annex the territory, which was called after Georgetown started auctioning off oil blocks in Essequibo in August. Caracas claims that 95 percent of Venezuelans voted to annex the territory.