A few days ago, Venezuela said it wanted to regain the Essequibo region, and a referendum has been held on the reconquest. The results of the referendum showed that more than 95% of the population supported the repossession of the Essequibo region.
Immediately after, Maduro announced that he would release a new map of Venezuela and issue a license for oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Ethiopia.
Maduro also ordered troops to be sent to the Guyana border in preparation for a claim to the Essequibo region.
With an area of about 160,000 square kilometres, the Essequibo region currently belongs to Guyana, accounting for about two-thirds of Guyana's land area. Venezuela wants to carve out two-thirds of the territory from Guyana, isn't this asking for people's lives, and no one can bear it!As a result, Guyana has begun a general mobilization and is gathering a large army to move towards the Essequibo region.
At present, the two sides have become tense and ready to fight at any time!
Our question is why Venezuela is suddenly eyeing the territory of neighbouring Guyana
Venezuela is located in the northern part of South America and has a land area of 91640,000 square kilometers, with superior natural endowments and abundant energy resources.
Venezuela has more than 300 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, ranking first in the world, more than Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Russia and other countries. Venezuelan gas proven reserves 567 trillion cubic meters, ranking eighth in the world;The bauxite resource is about 34800 million tons, proven reserves of 13300 million tons, ranking third in the world.
For a long time, Venezuela's economy was highly dependent on oil exports, which are the backbone of the national economy, accounting for 95% of the country's revenue**, so much so that it is often referred to as a "single-cell state".
Yet, with such a large fortune, Venezuelans are clanging poor. Many people wonder why Venezuela, which has the world's largest oil reserves, is not as rich as Saudi Arabia
First of all, although Venezuela is rich in oil reserves, it is buried deep and expensive to extract. The country's oil is still heavy and of poor quality and must be processed before it can be used. In short, due to the high cost and low quality, Venezuela's oil profits are relatively low, especially when oil prices are low, and even losses will occur.
Second, Venezuela's heavy industry is relatively backward, and since the withdrawal of Western oil companies from the country, Venezuela has not been able to obtain advanced oil extraction equipment, resulting in a further increase in the cost of oil extraction.
In fact, Guyana has not one, but five, namely British Guiana, Dutch Guiana, French Guiana, Portuguese Guiana, and Spanish Guiana. It's all a product of Western colonization.
Later, the independence movement in South America led to the transformation of British Guiana into the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, which is the one targeted by Venezuela this time. Spanish Guiana became the territory of Venezuela, Portuguese Guiana became the territory of Brazil, and Dutch Guiana became independent as Suriname.
Post-independence Guyana was also poor until 2015, when the American oil giant ExxonMobil discovered a large amount of oil in the Essequibo region, at least 16 billion barrels, worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Since then, Guyana has had a good life. In 2022, Guyana's GDP reached $14.4 billion, with a growth rate of 623％。According to 2025, Guyana is expected to become the world's largest producer per capita.
Seeing that its neighbors became rich overnight, but they were so poor that they couldn't eat, Venezuela was naturally very angry, so they set their sights on the land of Essequibo.
Coincidentally, the Essequibo region is a disputed area between Venezuela and Guyana.
After Venezuela gained independence from Colombia in 1830, British colonists took advantage of Venezuela's unstable foothold and forcibly occupied the Essequibo region. In 1899, Britain and the United States opened the so-called "International Court of Arbitration" in Paris, which forcibly annexed the Essequibo region to British Guiana, and after British Guiana became independent in 1966, this land naturally followed Guyana.
However, Venezuela did not recognize the outcome of this so-called international arbitration in the first place.
So, if the two countries go to war, which one will win?
Let's start with Guyana, which has a population of 7760,000, 1,500 regular troops, ** equipment is almost negligible.
Let's take a look at Venezuela, with a total population of 32.22 million, 100,000 regular troops, and millions of militia armies, with 24 F16A B fighters, 24 Su-30M2 fighters, equipped with 270 B*** infantry combat vehicles, 192 T72B1V main battle tanks, 14 BTR80A wheeled infantry combat vehicles, etc.
So as long as external forces do not intervene, there is no need to fight this battle at all, and the Ethiopia region is in Venezuela's pocket.
For us, if Venezuela does take the Essequibo region, the $50 billion loan is estimated to be secured.