Venezuela insists that a mineral-rich region of Guyana was fraudulently taken in the 19th century. Venezuela’s representative made the argument on Wednesday.
The problem here is virtually every part of the earth was wrongfully taken in the colonial era–or more recently. So what to do about that is a big question. I don’t think the answer is, fork over land to regional powers engaging in their own resource-grabs. Venezuela and Guyana are both essentially colonial projects, so if you really want to reckon with an anti-colonial argument it’s going to be much bigger than just a shift in borders.
The problem here is virtually every part of the earth was wrongfully taken in the colonial era–or more recently. So what to do about that is a big question. I don’t think the answer is, fork over land to regional powers engaging in their own resource-grabs. Venezuela and Guyana are both essentially colonial projects, so if you really want to reckon with an anti-colonial argument it’s going to be much bigger than just a shift in borders.