Venezuelan election for Guyanese area 'puts peace at risk'

Venezuela's decision to elect officials to administer a swathe of Guyanese territory constitutes "a full-frontal assault on Guyana's sovereignty and territorial integrity" that "undermines regional peace", the country's president, Irfaan Ali, has said.

- Harriet Barber

Venezuelans will head to the polls tomorrow to choose regional governors and lawmakers, including purportedly for Essequibo, a territory that is internationally recognised as part of neighbouring Guyana. The area is largely jungle but also rich in oil, gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources.

Ali told the Guardian the move was part of a "campaign to provoke confrontation" and that the "implications are grave - not just for Guyana, but for the entire western hemisphere".

"The sham elections Venezuela seeks to stage in our territory are not only illegal - they are an act of brazen hostility. This threat is not just aimed at Guyana. It undermines regional peace."

Guyana, an English-speaking former British and Dutch colony, has for decades administered the region, which makes up two-thirds of its territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. It says the frontiers were determined by an arbitration panel in 1899. Venezuela also lays claim because the region was within its boundaries during the Spanish colonial period.