Guyana faces elections amid oil boom, Maduro's threats

With less than three weeks before Guyana’s general elections Sept. 1, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has intensified his rhetoric over a long-standing territorial claim to the Essequibo, a region that makes up more than 60% of Guyana’s territory and that Caracas claims as its own.

The region bordered by Venezuela on the west, Brazil on the southwest and the Atlantic Ocean on the north: It contains dense rainforests, highlands, savannas and low coastal plains.

In his weekly address Tuesday, Maduro said Venezuela “will recover the Essequibo sooner rather than later,” a statement that heightens diplomatic tensions at a sensitive moment for the English-speaking nation, which is preparing to elect a new parliament and president amid an unprecedented oil boom and growing regional polariza