Guayana Esequiba

Guyana Esequiba ( Spanish pronunciation: [ ɡwaʝana esekiβa ] ) is the name of an area between the rivers Cuyuni and Essequibo, which de facto part of the Guyanese territory, but is claimed by Venezuela. The area is 159,542 km ² in size, and thus comprises 62 % of the Guyanese territory. 2010 283,000 people lived there. This corresponds to a population density of 0.75 inhabitants per km ². Thus Guiana Esequiba extremely sparsely populated (for comparison: Guyana 3.5 inh / km ², Venezuela 30 inh / km ²).

History

Guyana Esequiba was discovered by Christopher Columbus in Spanish services at his third trip to America. Created in 1777 Charles III. by decree the governorship of Venezuela and told the Essequibo as a natural border to the Dutch colony in Guyana, although the Dutch colonies Berbice, Essequibo and Demerara also partly west of the Essequibo were. With the British -Dutch Treaty of 1814 a part of the Dutch colonies were transferred to Great Britain, including the territories east of the Essequibo. In 1831, merged the United Kingdom Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo to British Guiana, with the Essequibo as western border, although many British settlers west of the Essequibo lived.

1840 commissioned the British government the German botanist Robert Hermann Schomburgk with the definition of the boundaries between British Guiana and Venezuela. This task he was engaged for several years. The he fixed boundary line ( the so-called Schomburgk line) stretched across the mouth of the Orinoco, and thus Venezuelan in (today's ) territory. From Venezuela this delimitation was not recognized. After a long long dispute it in 1899 to an international arbitral award, which largely came out in favor of Great Britain. The award was accepted by Venezuela, and it was concluded a contract in September, 1907, which established the border.

Revival of the conflict

In 1963, when the British colony of Guyana was moving towards independence, voices were raised in Venezuela, which called for the return of this region in Venezuelan sovereignty. This urged the Venezuelan government to act before independence British Guiana.

The Venezuelan government then declared the arbitration in 1899 null and void, on the grounds that there had been procedural errors. On the eve of the independence of Guyana in 1966, signed on 7 February, the United Kingdom and Venezuela, the Geneva agreement, which provided for a conciliation commission. But after four years of dispute without results, the Commission was dissolved. In the same, the conflict with the Venezuelan occupation of the divided after the demarcation of 1899 Isla de Anacoco intensified.

It was therefore decided to freeze all claims for twelve years. 1982, at the end of this period, Venezuela decided to renew its claims and took the matter to the UN and in 2006 it was submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations. In November 2007 there was an incident in the disputed border area.