Order from president Nicolás Maduro comes after referendum on whether Venezuela should claim sovereignty over the region
Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has ordered the country’s state-owned companies to “immediately” begin to explore and exploit the oil, gas and mines in Guyana’s Essequibo region, a territory larger than Greece and rich in oil and minerals that Venezuela claims as its own.
The announcement came a day after Maduro declared victory in a weekend referendum on whether to claim sovereignty over the region.
