Saber-rattling and high stakes in Guyana’s geopolitical neighborhood
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On January 7, 2021—one day after insurrectionist rumblings shook Washington, D.C.—Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro engaged in some saber-rattling of his own with the issuing of Decree No. 4.415, which claimed exclusive Venezuelan sovereignty over the waters and seabed off of Guyana’s coast, west of the Essequibo River. Maduro’s decree created a strategic zone called the “Territory for the Development of the Atlantic Façade,” which extends 200 nautical miles from the Orinoco Delta into the Caribbean Sea.
According to President Maduro, the establishment of this zone represents a “part of the battery of legal, diplomatic, political and State actions to defend our sacred rights of 200 years of the Republic.” The decree provides for a single authority to manage all aspects of the “strategic area.” It has a Board of Directors with representatives from the seven vice presidencies, the armed forces, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a mandate to handle revenue, taxes, and import facilities, among other responsibilities.