Venezuela Roundup: Oil licences, Guyana, US relations, Russia

Maduro pledges to allow oil exploration in disputed territory

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has ordered the creation of a dedicated division within the state-owned oil company Pdvsa. This division will be tasked with issuing operational licenses for oil exploration in the disputed territory with Guyana, known as the Essequibo. The territory is controlled by Guyana but Venezuela claims it.

This decision follows a weekend referendum held by his government, in which voters rejected the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the disagreement and expressed support for creating a new state in the territory.

Guyanese President rejects the measures as a “direct threat” against his country

Guyana's President Irfaan Alí said on Tuesday that the statements made by Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, are a "direct threat" to his country.

"This is a direct threat to the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and political independence of Guyana," said Alí in an interview with CBS News.

The National Assembly will discuss the creation of a Guayana Esequiba state

The President of the National Assembly (AN), Jorge Rodríguez, announced that the Parliament will convene this Wednesday to initiate the first discussion of the bill presented by President Maduro, which aims to establish the creation of the Guayana Esequiba state.

It is an “organic law to regulate the creation of the state of Guayana Esequiba,” Maduro said on Tuesday.

The US calls for an "expedited and transparent" process to allow opposition candidate Machado

The Biden administration expects the government of Nicolás Maduro to take steps to achieve an expedited process for the approval of opposition candidate María Corina Machado.

Washington wanted Venezuela to take steps to lift public office bans on opposition candidates as well as begin work to release political prisoners and "wrongfully detained" Americans by November 30.

"The Maduro authorities need to demonstrate the courage to allow a serious opposition candidate to run in the election," Nichols said. "That process needs to conclude by the time of invoking a formal election."

Maduro's visit to Russia expected by the end of the year

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro could make an official visit to Russia by the end of the year, as stated on Tuesday by the Kremlin's Foreign Policy Advisor, Yuri Ushakov.

"We agreed quite a long time ago on the possibility of Mr Maduro's visit to Moscow in December this year, but we will obviously confirm the specific dates in the coming days," said Ushakov.

The Kremlin advisor did not rule out the possibility that the Venezuelan president might visit other Russian cities besides Moscow, a matter that "is the subject of ongoing discussions."