Like other communities dotted across the dense jungles of the Essequibo region, Mabaruma is a patchwork of Indigenous peoples bound together by the English language and Guyana’s national culture.
At the center of the dispute is an incendiary vote held in Venezuela on Sunday in which Caracas alleges the public overwhelmingly backed the country’s claims to the 160,000-sq-kilometre swathe of resource-rich rainforest.
Maduro hailed the plebiscite a “total success”, claiming that 95% of Venezuelans supported the plans to annex the region and disregard the international court of justice, which is currently mediating the century-old territorial dispute.
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has cast himself as a mediator in the dispute, but he also sent troops to his country’s northern border, and it appears the leftist leader is running out of patience with Maduro’s saber-rattling.
Maduro’s belligerent campaign is widely seen as a way to drum up support and test his capacity to drive turnout before presidential elections in 2024, when he is expected to face a serious challenge by the opposition leader María Corina Machado.
“He could also just use the alleged looming threat from Guyana and the US to say there are no conditions for an election to be held and cancel it entirely,” said Ryan Berg, an analyst and the director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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