Venezuela: Arrest warrants for conspiracy against referendum How right-wing populists are holding Ukraine hostage

Venezuela’s Public Prosecution Service has requested arrest warrants for fourteen opposition figures on charges of conspiracy. In connection with last Sunday’s controversial referendum on the claim to a region in neighboring Guyana, opponents of the government are also accused of treason and forming a criminal organization, as Attorney General Tarek William Saab said on Wednesday. Suspects include former president of parliament and self-proclaimed head of state Juan Guaidó, as well as prominent government opponents Julio Borges and Leopoldo López. Most suspects live abroad.

According to the authoritarian government, a large part of the Venezuelan population supported the country’s claim to the resource-rich Essequibo region in neighboring Guyana in a referendum on Sunday. The government of Guyana described the referendum as a threat to security and peace. The approximately 160,000 square kilometer Essequibo area covers approximately two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. “The suspects attempted to torpedo our people’s sovereign struggle for Essequibo,” said Attorney General Saab.

The current boundaries of the area were established in 1899 by an arbitration award from a tribunal in Paris, on the initiative of the US and Great Britain. Venezuela relies on a 1966 agreement with Britain – a few months before the then colony of British Guiana became independent. This provided a negotiated solution to the dispute. The border dispute worsened when large oil deposits were found off Essequibo’s Atlantic coast in 2015. Guyana, one of the poorest countries in South America, has granted production licenses to the American oil company Exxon Mobil. (sda/dpa)