evidence: This week, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro took unprecedented steps to establish control over the contested Essequibo region of neighboring Guyana, violating an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling. Essequibo, a region in western Guyana, accounts for two-thirds of the country’s territory, 16 percent of its population—and, crucially, would give Caracas a claim to offshore oil riches that Guyana recently found and that Venezuela clearly covets. [...] According to the government, more than 95 percent of voters approved all five questions on the referendum, which called for the creation of a new so-called Guayana Esequiba state as well as granting its residents Venezuelan citizenship, providing the population with identity cards, incorporating Essequibo onto Venezuela’s map, and rejecting the 1899 ruling. "A new era in the fight for our Guayana Esequiba has begun," Maduro said in celebration of the results. "Now we will recover Venezuela’s historical rights."