Request for help came after Venezuelan president announced series of measures to formalize a referendum Sunday evening

Request for help came after Venezuelan president announced series of measures to formalize a referendum Sunday evening

Guyana has appealed for help from the United Nations and the United States as the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, announced a series of measures intended to advance its annexation of two-thirds of the tiny South American nation’s territory.

“I have spoken to the secretary general of the United Nations and several leaders, alerting them of these dangerous developments and the desperate actions of President Maduro,” Irfaan Ali, president of Guyana, said in a television broadcast late on Tuesday, as he informed the nation of 800,000 of Maduro’s latest steps intended to create a new Venezuelan state in Guyana.

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    Ali’s comments came after Maduro announced a series of measures to formalise a referendum on Sunday evening in which voters overwhelmingly backed plans to recognise the 160,000km2 oil-rich swath of Guyanese jungle as its own.

    In videos posted on social media Maduro presented a revised national map showing an enlarged Venezuela which had swallowed up the region of Essequibo, demanding it be rapidly circulated in schools and universities in an attempt to enforce the results of Sunday’s referendum.

    “I have immediately ordered for it to be published and taken to all schools, colleges, community councils, public establishments, universities and in all homes in the country, the new map of Venezuela with our Guayana-Esequiba.

    Maduro’s increasingly bellicose rhetoric over Essequibo is seen by analysts as an attempt to distract from a series of overlapping crises at home and drum up support ahead of presidential elections expected for 2024 but the escalation of regional tensions on Tuesday night added to concerns that the dictator would not stop short of military action.

    On Wednesday, Venezuela’s attorney general issued an arrest warrant for 10 opposition leaders including Juan Guaidó, Julio Borges and Leopoldo López.

    The latest moves to regain political dominance ahead of next year’s elections could be a reaction to the poor turnout for Sunday’s referendum, said Phil Gunson, analyst at International Crisis Group.

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