An old territorial claim to part of Guyana rich in oil and gold has proved a useful for Hugo Chávez’s successor. But the land grab has sparked outrage among the Guyanese
They maintain their businesses, study and live in this village of fewer than 2,000 inhabitants, mostly Indigenous Arawak, who have managed to preserve their culture and language through the centuries – despite waves of Spanish, Dutch and British colonisation and fights over land.
On 28 July, Mohabir and his 800,000 fellow Guyanese will be looking across the border as 21 million Venezuelans go to the polls to choose their new president – as Nicolás Maduro, Hugo Chávez’s political heir, tries to remain in power for a third six-year term.
His main competitor is Edmundo González Urrutia, a 74-year-old diplomat and leader of the opposition coalition, Plataforma Unitaria (Unitary Platform), who has led all the independent polls, with at least a 20-point lead over Maduro.
In May, the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), a US thinktank, warned that the Venezuelan army had “moved substantial quantities of personnel and equipment to sites near the disputed border”.
“Our integration with Guyana is part of Brazil’s strategy to help, not just with development, but to work intensively to keep South America a zone of peace,” Lula said in February, as he ordered the army to reinforce its presence near the border.
In 2007, De Toma says, Guyana successfully resolved its territorial dispute with Suriname, presenting itself as a vulnerable state without military strength and resorting to international law to deal with the issue at a regional level.
The original article contains 1,273 words, the summary contains 235 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
They maintain their businesses, study and live in this village of fewer than 2,000 inhabitants, mostly Indigenous Arawak, who have managed to preserve their culture and language through the centuries – despite waves of Spanish, Dutch and British colonisation and fights over land.
On 28 July, Mohabir and his 800,000 fellow Guyanese will be looking across the border as 21 million Venezuelans go to the polls to choose their new president – as Nicolás Maduro, Hugo Chávez’s political heir, tries to remain in power for a third six-year term.
His main competitor is Edmundo González Urrutia, a 74-year-old diplomat and leader of the opposition coalition, Plataforma Unitaria (Unitary Platform), who has led all the independent polls, with at least a 20-point lead over Maduro.
In May, the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), a US thinktank, warned that the Venezuelan army had “moved substantial quantities of personnel and equipment to sites near the disputed border”.
“Our integration with Guyana is part of Brazil’s strategy to help, not just with development, but to work intensively to keep South America a zone of peace,” Lula said in February, as he ordered the army to reinforce its presence near the border.
In 2007, De Toma says, Guyana successfully resolved its territorial dispute with Suriname, presenting itself as a vulnerable state without military strength and resorting to international law to deal with the issue at a regional level.
The original article contains 1,273 words, the summary contains 235 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!