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Venezuelan Defense Chief Accuses Exxon Mobil of Financing Assassination Attempts on Maduro

© AP Photo / Mark HumphreyThis April 25, 2017, file photo, shows an Exxon service station sign in Nashville, Tenn. Exxon Mobil Corp. on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022 reported fourth-quarter earnings of $8.87 billion.
This April 25, 2017, file photo, shows an Exxon service station sign in Nashville, Tenn.  Exxon Mobil Corp.  on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022 reported fourth-quarter earnings of $8.87 billion. - Sputnik International, 1920, 23.01.2024
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MEXCICO CITY (Sputnik) - Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez has alleged that US oil giant Exxon Mobil sponsored preparations for the 2023 foiled assassination attempts on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with the aim of exploiting rich resources of the Essequibo region.
On Monday, Venezuelan Prosecutor General Tarek William Saab said that the country's security forces had thwarted preparations for five terrorist attacks and conspiracies, with 27 people detained in the case. The detainees are believed to have recruited Venezuelan military personnel and planned, in coordination with the US authorities, assassination attempts on Maduro, Padrino and Freddy Bernal, the governor of the Venezuelan state of Tachira.
"I dare say, this is funded by Exxon Mobil so that once the task of these conspiratorial actions is completed — the task of assassinating the Venezuelan constitutional president, our commander-in-chief, of killing him, taking him out — [the US can] come after the Essequibo region. These are not crazy ideas, this is a geopolitical analysis constantly carried out by the General Staff of the Bolivarian armed forces," Padrino Lopez said in an speech broadcast by the state-run VTV channel on Monday.
The US government, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Drug Enforcement Administration have allegedly been involved in the foiled assassination attempts on Maduro with an eye of "taking him out of the game," he stated, adding that the Venezuelan authorities "had to swallow these conspiratorial events in 2023" amid the negotiations with the US government on the relief of some oil sanctions against Caracas.
The oil- and mineral- rich Essequibo region has long been a subject of dispute between Venezuela and Guyana. Venezuela gained independence from Spain in 1845, with Essequibo recognized as part of its sovereign territory. However, in 1899, the United Kingdom filed and won an arbitration claim to recognize Essequibo as part of its then-Caribbean colony of British Guiana. Independent Guyana cited the 1899 Arbitral Award in its 2018 International Court of Justice suit against Venezuela to reassert its claim of sovereignty over the disputed territory.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a press conference a day after the consultative referendum on Venezuelan sovereignty over the Essequibo region controlled by neighbouring Guyana, at the CNE headquarters in Caracas on December 4, 2023. - Sputnik International, 1920, 09.12.2023
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Maduro Signs Decrees to Incorporate Essequibo Into Venezuela
In December 2023, Venezuela held a referendum in which almost 96% of the population voted in favor of incorporating the Essequibo region into the country. Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali said that Georgetown was considering Caracas' actions to incorporate Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana's territory, as a threat to the country's national security.
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