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12/10/2023 Essequibo and ExxonMobil: A Tale of Imperialism and Undermining of the Bolivarian Revolution By: Lema MaiwandRead Now As a collective, we need to seriously re-evaluate the contexts in which we use the terms “sovereignty”, “self-determination”, and “imperialism”, especially when it’s devoid of historical analysis/context and in service of imperialist designs. We are at the point of the news cycle (again), where every two years or so, there is global denunciation and vilification of Venezuela, and even stronger calls for military intervention in the country. Forget about the deliberate sabotaging of the Bolivarian Revolution by the U.S. and co. since 1999, the crippling sanctions on the most critical Venezuelan economic sectors[1](petroleum, gold, mining, food and banking), and the failed Juan Guaido transplanted coup project [2]--let’s set all of that aside for a second. Let’s talk about Essequibo. El Esequibo Es Nuestro (Essequibo is Ours) At the moment, news outlets are reporting that Venezuela has threatened to annex “Guyana’s oil-rich western territory” out of the blue, because Caracas is just perpetually scheming evil plots 24/7. In reality, Venezuela has had legitimate claims to Essequibo territory since its independence and statehood in the early 19th century. In 1824, Venezuela presented to the British government, the colonial administrators of present-day Guyana, its claim to the border at the Essequibo river, warning the British not to impede on its rightful claim to the territory. [3] At the time, the British did not object to the Venezuelan claim; however, in classic British fashion, it continued to promote the establishment of informal British settlements in the territory west of the Essequibo river. In 1840, a British-commissioned survey discovered gold deposits in Venezuela-claimed Essequibo; as you can imagine, the survey then arbitrarily expanded British claims to the territory (Schomburgk Line), which extended British occupation of the territory well beyond what was agreed in 1824. [4] Venezuela, naturally, disputed the unsubstantiated claim of the territory by the British for decades. The issuing of Paris Arbitral Award in 1899, headed by the U.S., essentially gifted 90% of Essequibo to British Guyana; Venezuela considered the court decision null and void and continued to advocate its rightful claim over the territory. [5] In 1966, Venezuela was successful in bringing the validity of the Paris Arbitral Award into question. The Geneva Agreement was then convened by the United Nations between Venezuela, soon to be independent Guyana, and the United Kingdom. The agreement acknowledges the invalidity of the 1899 Paris court decision; it does not, however, recognize Venezuela’s historical claim to Essequibo. Instead, the Geneva Agreement is meant to serve as a platform for dispute resolution, on which front there has been zero progress. [6] An Independent Venezuela Fast forward to the early 2000s and the onset of the Bolivarian Revolution, during which Hugo Chavez sought to rid Venezuela [and the region at large] of all imperialist leeches and reassert national control of critical assets/sectors, at the center of which was Venezuelan petroleum resources. Chavez wrestled back domestic control over oil production, which was producing billions of dollars for U.S.-based petroleum giants at the expense of Venezuelans. Historically, we have witnessed the fates of states and figures who nationalize assets in opposition to imperialist exploitation, particularly in South America (coups, assassinations, military invasions, etc.). Much to the chagrin of the U.S., Chavez’s nationalization process included eliminating all privately-operated oil fields in the country; in 2007, Venezuela expelled U.S. oil giants ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips from the country and mandated all other foreign operations (Chevron, BP, etc.) to increase Venezuelan ownership in operations to 83%.[7] What followed were decades-long efforts by the U.S. and its stooges to sabotage the Bolivarian Revolution through all means necessary. What does this have to do with Essequibo? Well, let’s fast forward even more to 2015: ExxonMobil, barred and expelled from Venezuela, discovered huge deposits of petroleum-producing sandstone reservoirs off the Essequibo coast[8]—all of which is territory claimed by Venezuela, including all affiliated natural resources. Since the mid-2000s, after Venezuela’s refusal to be exploited, U.S. and other Western oil giants have exerted a disturbing degree of political influence on Guyana, at the behest and in benefit of U.S. geopolitical interests. Guyana is set to become ExxonMobil’s largest oil producer—in effect, where the Guyanese government begins, and ExxonMobil ends is increasingly unclear. Any and all costs (environmental and financial) attached to ExxonMobil’s deep-shore drilling formally hold Guyana, and its tax paying people, liable for damages. There is virtually no governmental oversight over ExxonMobil’s operations; increasingly, all legislations, policies [domestic and foreign] and regulations favour ExxonMobil’s operations in the country. [9] To make matters worse, Georgetown is now courting the U.S. to create military bases in Essequibo to “protect national [ExxonMobil’s] interests”, fully anticipating Venezuela’s reaction to having American military presence in territory that it considers its own. [10] In response to this escalation, and rightfully fearing yet another American ploy concentrated towards regional destabilization, Venezuela held a national referendum this week. The outcome: 95% voted to formally legitimize Caracas’ historical claims to Essequibo. [11] The referendum in no way indicates that Venezuela plans to annex Essequibo through military means; in fact, Maduro has insisted that the mechanisms of the Geneva Agreement (1966) be used to come to an agreement regarding the territory. [12] The full-scale militarization of the area, solely to protect U.S. imperialist interests, is only being proposed by Guyana, its investors [ExxonMobil and co.] and Washington. Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism The position that Guyana should be “free to decide how its resources should be used” is baseless, because Essequibo does not belong to Guyana—there is documented history which legitimizes Venezuela’s claim to the territory. Over a century ago, Lenin identified imperialism to be the highest stage of capitalism and the primary contradiction we collectively face today is U.S. imperialism, also known as multi-continental monopoly capitalism; we see its insidious manifestation in every corner of this planet (Hong Kong, Taiwan and South China Sea most notably being at the forefront of similar “conflicts/disputes” in recent history). These multi-continental monopoly/ “corporatist” interests are what must be weakened and defeated from China-Taiwan, to Russia-Ukraine, to Palestine-Israel, to Venezuela-Guyana, etc. Any state, entity, group or figure who aids, supports and abets the cancerous diseases that are American unipolarity and its petrodollar hegemony, are never acting in the interests of their people or homeland. They have sold themselves to the highest bidder and are merely cogs in the machinery that is multi-continental monopoly capitalism: all decisions are made by, for and in favour of the empire’s elite ruling class. The next time you ask yourself how mass murders, slaughters, displacement and destruction at the scale we are witnessing right now is even possible, the answer is simple: regurgitation of cultivated lies [perpetuated by your favourite liberal author, artist, professor, academic, NGO, charity, etc.] packaged as struggles of “liberation and sovereignty,” in order to manufacture consent to further consolidate the super-profits of the multi-continental monopoly capitalists. The role of the working class The point is not to know the history of every single thing, but rather, not to take arbitrary positions which legitimize imperialist conquests. We must understand situations within the framework of how their material development is connected to the wider world, rather than study or analyze an issue in isolation. The immortal science of Marxism-Leninism explains in very certain yet simple terms on what is to be done: "Hence the necessity for the proletariat of the ‘dominant’ nations to support - resolutely and actively - the national liberation movement of the oppressed and dependent peoples. This does not mean, of course, that the proletariat must support every national movement, everywhere and always, in every individual concrete case. It means that support must be given to such national movements as tend to weaken, to overthrow imperialism, and not to strengthen and preserve it.” [13] Solidarity with all such anti-imperialist efforts, struggles, and operations is, therefore, the sacred duty of the international proletariat class - especially the class-conscious proletariat living in the imperial core. References [1] Clare Ribando Seelke, Venezuela: Overview of U.S. Sanctions (Congressional Research Service, 2023): https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10715 [2] Venezuela Reveals Proof of Guaido’s Involvement in Foiled Plot (TeleSUR, 2020): https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-Reveals-Proof-of-Guaidos-Involvement-in-Foiled-Plot-20200517-0008.html [3] Luis Britto Garcia, British Imperialists Assault Guyana (UltimasNoticias, 2020): https://en.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/opinion/imperialistas-ingleses-asaltan-guayana/ [4] Benedetta Piva, Lachlan Kerr and Reetinder Kaur Chowdhary, Guyana-Venezuela Border Dispute (The Counterterrorism Group, 2021): https://www.counterterrorismgroup.com/post/guyana-venezuela-border-dispute [5] Elias Ferrer Breda, Essequibo Dispute: No Plan for War in Guyana (Forbes, 2023): https://www.forbes.com/sites/eliasferrerbreda/2023/11/30/essequibo-dispute-no-plan-for-war-in-guyana/ [6] Agreement to Resolve the Controversy over the Fronter between Venezuela and British Guiana (Geneva Agreement) (United Nations, 1966): https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/GB-VE_660217_Agreement%20to%20Resolve%20Controversy%20over%20Frontier%20British%20Guiana.pdf [7] Brian Ellsworth, Chavez Drives Exxon and ConocoPhillips from Venezuela (Reuters, 2007): https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN26378950/?fbclid=IwAR03bw7FvigDQCYI8swAmDlXIqDWSNNtY6DFdy7o3fzXMuaBU7PQNysX71A [8] William Mao, A Path to Prosperity for Oil-Rich Guyana (Harvard International Review, 2023): https://hir.harvard.edu/a-path-to-prosperity-for-oil-rich-guyana/#:~:text=In%202015%2C%20the%20oil%20giant,heights%20of%20power%20and%20wealth. [9] Amy Westervelt, How Exxon Captured a Country Without Firing a Shot (The Intercept, 2023): https://theintercept.com/2023/06/18/guyana-exxon-mobil-oil-drilling/ [10] U.S. Army and Guyana Strengthen Military Partnership (TeleSUR, 2023): https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/US-Army-and-Guyana-Strengthen-Military-Partnership-20231128-0018.html [11] Deisy Buitrago, Venezuelan Voters Reject ICJ Jurisdiction in Dispute with Guyana (Reuters, 2023): https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuelans-vote-referendum-disputed-territory-with-guyana-2023-12-03/#:~:text=All%20questions%20passed%20with%20more,confirm%20the%20number%20of%20voters. [12] Venezuela to Enforce Geneva Agreement: President Maduro (TeleSUR, 2023): https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-To-Enforce-the-Geneva-Agreement-President-Maduro-20231205-0002.html?fbclid=IwAR2FYzuC-b8I-hbRbp9tRwY24JWrL8kC41Yt_eHOJL8iFFDoN-xGUVBVN_k [13] Joseph Stalin, The Foundations of Leninism VI: The National Question (Pravda, 1924): https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/ch06.htm Author"Lema Maiwand is an Afghan writer, community organizer and geopolitical analyst based in Canada. She writes on topics of politics and history, especially as they relate to anti-imperialism and neocolonialism." Archives December 2023
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