Tommy Johnson
US president Joe Biden dispatched two teams from the Department of Defense to Guyana this month to protect its imperialist domination of the region. Guyana is a semi-colony of the United States where, in 2015, the oil monopoly Exxon discovered mass quantities of oil in the disputed region of Essequibo. The visit came in response to Venezuela’s referendum to annex the region. The US visit represents greater intrusion into Latin American affairs by the imperialist superpower.
Essequibo has been claimed by Venezuela since its formal independence in 1810. It was British colonialism and imperialism that took control of the Essequibo territory and divided it from Venezuela, declaring it part of English Guyana. When Guyana passed from a British colony into a semi-colony mainly under the control of the US, the land issue was never rectified and the thievery was maintained by the current borders. Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro has stated that he will grant operating licenses to explore and exploit oil, gas, and minerals in the region and he has demanded that the Guyanese in control vacate in three months.
Guyanese president Ifraan Ali claims that this is a direct threat to Guyana and has vowed to appeal to the United Nations Security Council. The compradore and land-selling government of Guyana aims to protect their ill-acquired territory and secure their role as lackies of colonialism by offering to host imperialist military bases in their small country. The 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade of the US Army met with the Guyanese army in late November, and the US embassy in Guyana boasts of discussing “upcoming engagements to include strategic planning sessions and processes to enhance both countries’ military readiness and capabilities to respond to security threats.”
The Essequibo region spans the area west of the Essequibo river and east of the current border with Venezuela; it is home to 160,000 people and makes up about 2/3 of current Guyana. The announcement of 11 billion barrels of oil in the region has exacerbated the historic dispute and brought the imperialists into a bigger direct role. The role of US imperialism is to horde the national resources and continue its foothold on Latin America, seeing the conflict as a flash point on the basis that Guyana is now in possession of more oil than Kuwait or the United Arab Emirates. US imperialism has for many years attempted to overthrow the government of Venezuela and transform the nation into its colony by preventing other imperialist powers and superpowers from exploiting as they do now, and thus becoming the sole exploiter and oppressor.
As of December 14, Ali and Maduro have agreed not to use armed force as the dispute continues.
photo: Map showing the disputed Essequibo region, SurinameCentral via Wikipedia Commons
