On December 3, Venezuela held a controversial referendum over a declare to the oil-rich Essequibo area managed by Guyana. That very same day, the Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, shared a video on X, previously Twitter, displaying a bunch of Indigenous folks decreasing a Guyanese flag and hoisting a Venezuelan flag in its stead over the territory, which is often known as Guayana Esequiba. ‘Glory to the courageous folks!’ she wrote, which is the primary line of the nation’s nationwide anthem.
The submit got here after Guyana’s president Irfaan Ali made his personal on November 24, on this case that includes a video wherein he’s proven attending the elevating of a Guyanese flag at a purported border web site between Guyana and Venezuela. Bellingcat was first alerted to the posts by EsPaja, a Caracas-based reality checking outlet. You may learn their evaluation of the identical incidents right here, in Spanish.
Venezuela has claimed Essequibo, which includes two-thirds of Guyana’s territory, because the nineteenth century and the nation’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has been accused of inflaming the problem to garner well-liked help as he gears up for a reelection marketing campaign subsequent yr. (The Venezuelan authorities has moved to ban opposition leaders from working in opposition to him).
Tensions have risen in latest weeks over Essequibo, with Brazil shifting troops to its northern border and the US saying joint navy drills with Guyana. Because the elevating and decreasing of flags can point out adjustments in territorial management, claims and counterclaims about these two movies have circulated on-line.
A preferred interpretation amongst some Venezuelan and Latin American social media customers is that the folks within the video Rodríguez posted had eliminated the identical flag hoisted by the Guyanese President in November.
Bellingcat has been in a position to geolocate each movies on this distant jungle space of South America. They really present two completely different flagpoles situated some 185 kilometres aside. Whereas a Guyanese flag was lowered by indigenous Venezuelans, this occasion came about some 80 kilometres away from the disputed border with Guyana and roughly 20 kilometres from Venezuela’s border with Brazil. Why a Guyanese flag was flying there within the first place stays unknown.
Elevating the Guyanese Flag
Within the video posted by Ali, the Guyanese president, he arrives by helicopter at a mountaintop within the jungle. A gaggle of troopers salute because the nation’s customary, often known as the Golden Arrowhead, is raised atop the flagpole. The president shared this video, which we’ll check with as Video One, on his Fb web page on November 24.
He added that the flag was raised ‘greater than 2,200 ft above sea degree on our border’. Some flat, distinctive mountain ridges could be seen within the distance behind him. These are the Tepuis, which is the identify of the table-top mesas and mountains widespread in western Guyana and Venezuela within the language of the indigenous Pemón folks.
Whereas analysing claims concerning the location of those occasions, Bellingcat researchers got here throughout the identical video posted to the Fb web page of the Individuals’s Progressive Get together, which Ali represents. It appeared 39 minutes after the president shared the video and was captioned ‘the Golden Arrowhead was hoisted atop Pakarampa Mountain this morning’.
A nonetheless from this video, displaying troopers posing with a big Guyanese flag, was earlier this month uploaded to the Google Maps location for Pakarampa Mountain.
Nonetheless, the precise location was not on Pakarampa Mountain itself however can as an alternative be traced to a close-by vantage level at (6.35919,-61.13761). The flag was certainly raised simply inside Guyanese territory, east of the Wenamu River which kinds a part of the border with Venezuela. The digicam confronted east, displaying Guyana’s Essequibo area.
The scene of the troopers posing with the flag is especially helpful given the mountain ridge within the background. Utilizing a screenshot of the identical scene – although not the identical nonetheless as uploaded to Google Maps – yielded helpful clues. The situation was verified utilizing PeakVisor, an app initially developed for mountaineers (you may learn extra about its usefulness for open supply researchers right here).
Right here, PeakVisor shows the a digital panorama of similar mountain ridge as seen in Video One:
By overlaying the silhouettes of this mountain vary to a nonetheless from Video One, we will see that they match collectively. There are slight discrepancies attributable to difficulties matching the horizontal area of view (hfov) on the picture overlay, however none important sufficient to have an effect on the match.
On December 11, journalists from AFP visited the village of Arau and reported that locals authorized of Ali’s elevating of the nationwide flag over the close by mountain, which the publication didn’t identify.
Elevating the Venezuelan Flag
A gaggle of Indigenous folks march towards a flagpole holding a big Venezuelan flag. Within the following scene, a person declares the third of December ‘an historic day’ and that, in Essequibo, ‘this land is indivisible’.
Round him stand a bunch of individuals carrying T-shirts bearing an enlarged silhouette map of Venezuela together with Guyana’s Essequibo area. Whereas the textual content will not be legible as a result of poor high quality of the video, the colors inside the silhouette resemble the brand of the ‘Venezuela Toda!’ marketing campaign which advocated for a ‘sure’ vote within the December 3 referendum.
This video, which we’ll check with as Video Two, was shared on December 3 by Venezuelan vice chairman Rodríguez on X. El País reported that the video was launched by the nation’s Ministry of Communication — two Venezuelan cupboard ministers and the president of the nationwide meeting posted the video on X, and all three posts have been then retweeted by the ministry.
Geolocating Video Two was a better problem, as a result of poor video high quality and the dimensions of the world which needed to be lined in a guide search of satellite tv for pc imagery for matching options. Beginning with areas close to the border between Venezuela and Guyana didn’t result in a profitable geolocation.
One Bellingcat Discord member steered increasing our search space additional, referring to a Telesur report which claimed that the flag-raising ceremony had been filmed within the Sierra da Paracaima mountain vary and that the attendees have been indigenous Pemón folks from the world close to the city of Santa Elena de Uairén.
The next X submit additionally steered that Video Two was filmed within the Paracaima mountains, though the consumer baselessly claims that the Guyanese President had raised a flag right here.
A seek for matching options on satellite tv for pc imagery close to Santa Elena de Uairén yielded a match on Google Earth at (4.68988,-61.23782). A key element was the form of a patch of forested land within the distance. The digicam faces south-west.
A Story of Two Flagpoles
Regardless of similarities within the two movies, the declare that they present the identical location doesn’t accord with the accessible open supply proof. Not solely are there variations within the surrounding panorama, however the flagpoles additionally seem distinct upon nearer inspection.
For instance, a becoming a member of factor could be seen on the flagpole in Video Two. No such factor could be seen on the flagpole in Video One. The Guyanese flagpole additionally seems taller and is affixed to a strong concrete base.
On December 3, the Guyanese information web site Demerara Waves revealed an article on the flag controversy wherein the Guyana Defence Forces (GDF) described the Tweet by Rodríguez and Video Two as “misinformation”.
The GDF additionally stated following the flag elevating ceremony attended by President Ali, a golden plaque had been put in on the web site. Demerara Waves additionally revealed a photograph of the plaque, whose textual content states that the Guyanese flag was raised on November 23 on Mount Arau. This plaque is considered one of a number of options which can’t be seen in Video Two, though it was filmed after Video One.
In sum, Video Two was filmed roughly 185 kilometres away from the elevating of the Guyanese flag as seen in Video One. Video Two was truly filmed far nearer to the border of Brazil (17 km) than that of Guyana (80 km).
This location is inside Venezuela itself, not the Essequibo space of Guyana which Venezuela claims.
Though a Guyanese flag could be seen in Video Two, it’s clearly not the identical flag as that raised within the presence of President Ali. The lingering query subsequently will not be solely who instructed this smaller Guyanese flag to be eliminated however who put it up within the first place – notably in a location close to the Brazilian border with no apparent relevance to the present dispute.
Editor’s Observe: This piece was up to date on December 14, 2023 to credit score EsPaja, who first alerted Bellingcat researchers to the movies on this story.
Annique Mossou, Youri van der Weide and Giancarlo Fiorella contributed analysis. Thanks additionally to members of Bellingcat’s Discord Server for his or her options through the analysis course of.
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