Venezuela prepared for controversial land referendum

Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Tensions are running high in Venezuela and Guyana ahead of a referendum this weekend as Venezuelans are voting to make a disputed, oil-rich territory a state.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has pushed for a referendum Sunday asking voters to covert 62,000 square miles of land that makes up the Essequibo, which also is claimed by Guyana, to a new state.

The referendum has been condemned in Guyana, while some suggested that it would lead to war between the two countries.

"People in the border region are very concerned," Guyana's Foreign Minister Hugh Todd said. "Maduro is a despotic leader, and despotic leaders are very hard to predict."

Maduro has managed to hold onto to power after a disputed election in 2018 that led to the West backing away from him, along with heavy sanctions when he rejected new elections and ignored calls to leave office. He is up for re-election next year.

The International Court of Justice had been reviewing a request by Guyana dating to 2018 in which the country asked the court to validate an 1899 decision that gave it control over Essequibo.

Guyana has asked the court to step in and stop the referendum, calling it an "existential threat to the country. The Organization of American States has called for a pause in the referendum vote.

Guyana Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo blamed Maduro focusing the referendum to ignore local politics, while Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez called Jagdeo a "plant" for the oil giant ExxonMobil, and that its claim over Essequibo was legal.