Tensions escalate over disputed Essequibo region between Venezuela, neighbor Guyana

CARACAS, VENEZUELA - DEC. 3, 2023: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the country’s state-owned companies on Tuesday to immediately grant operating licenses for the exploration and exploitation of oil, gas and mines in Guyana’s Essequibo region, an area rich in oil and minerals that Venezuela claims as its own.Maduro also presented a new Venezuelan map in which the annexed Essequibo appears as part of the country. Hours earlier, he sent a military contingent to Puerto Barima near the limits of the disputed territory and announced a new military zone.He also ordered that the more than 125,000 Guyanese living in the area be granted Venezuelan citizenship.The series of announcements came a day after Maduro won a referendum in which more than 95% of the people supported Venezuelan sovereignty over the 160,000-square-kilometer (61,776-square-mile) territory, which caused concern in Guyana. The country's(Footage by Marcos German Salgado/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)