Maduro’s land grab in Guyana is a cynical ploy to hang on to power in Venezuela

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Maduro’s land grab in Guyana is a cynical ploy to hang on to power in Venezuela | Observer editorial

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/10/observer-view-maduro-land-grab-guyana-venezuela

The unpopular leader is eyeing nationalist votes by stoking of tension over Guyana’s Essequibo region

Maduro’s land grab in Guyana is a cynical ploy to hang on to power in Venezuela | Observer editorial

It also seems clear that the dispute, which centres on control of the Essequibo region in western Guyana, a sparsely populated area the size of Greece that constitutes about two-thirds of Guyanese territory, is mostly about oil. In 2015, the US oil giant, ExxonMobil, discovered a big field off Guyana’s coast, largely within its exclusive economic zone.

The discovery has swollen Guyana’s estimated oil reserves to about 11bn barrels.

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Look, a nation looking to expand its territory due to oil. Where's all the anti American Lemmy users to say how imperialistic they are?

They're LARPing as imperialists, maybe, but realistically as soon as they try anything, they will get stomped harder than Saddam Hussein during Gulf War 1.

IMO, that government has already been stomped, but it's propped up somehow. Venezuela has lost about 10% of its population over last few years and it's currency is inflated badly. It just doesn't make sense how that man is still in power.