So Venezuela still wants to claim our land as their own. Despite the fact that the Spanish have never had any widespread settlements or communities here, the only people to settle here other than Amerindians were the Dutch and British, despite the fact that everyone who lives here (about 125,000 people or 15% of Guyana's population) are Guyanese, and despite the fact that we Amerindians strongly oppose Venezuela stealing our land.

These people who want to steal our land have absolutely zero sense and it's no wonder why their country is a failed state.

Guyana’s Indigenous peoples reject Venezuela’s land grab plans

• Guyana’s Amerindian People’s Association (APA), a group that champions the rights of Indigenous Peoples, rejects Venezuela’s advances, contending that Venezuela has not traditionally occupied the land it now claims.
• In a statement issued on December 7, the APA explained that Guyana’s Indigenous peoples have occupied the land since “time immemorial” and they “hold that territory sacred.” Additionally, the South Rupununi District Council (SRDC), in a December 2 statement, said the Essequibo region- called Chiipi Wa’o in Wapichan- has been traditionally occupied by Wapichan people “since before the colonisers came to the continent.”
• So the APA and the SRDC back the government’s intention to defend the Essequibo region. The APA, in its statement, said: “we stand in solidarity with the Government of Guyana as it continues to advocate, per international law, for its sovereign territory to be respected. Additionally, the APA also supports the Guyanese Government’s right to defend its territory and people.”

Guyana Amerindian communities fear Venezuela’s move to annex oil-rich region)

• Amerindian toshaos, or village chiefs, in Essequibo fear that a drastic shift in control of natural resources in this large belt of tropical forests may threaten their traditional lands. All five chiefs told Mongabay they are also worried about their safety in the case of an invasion, a concern that extends within the villages. The Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), a Guyanese NGO, told Mongabay that some families have already moved away from their villages in search of security.
• In Guyana, more than 100 Amerindian communities hold absolute, unconditional and collective titles to the land they occupy and use. “If you look up Amerindian land titles in Guyana, you will find that the majority of them are within the Essequibo region,” Romario Hastings told Mongabay. “If [President Nicolás] Maduro has his way, it will jeopardize the steps we have already taken as Indigenous peoples, which have been years and years of struggle.”

What’s really at stake in the Venezuela-Guyana land dispute? (commentary)

• We are Guyanese citizens, and as such, we stand in solidarity with the Guyanese government and reject any foreign claim on this land. We are also Indigenous peoples, and it is important to acknowledge that for our ancestors, all colonial borders were arbitrary at the time of their occurrence. They cut between our customary lands, separating peoples who share a language and culture, and depriving people of access to sacred sites.
• Essequibo is our home. To protect this land and its people, our voices must be heard.

Also, I want to say that it does annoy me very much as a Lokono person from this part of Guyana that most of the media is focusing on the natural resources in this land and not the people who live here. I keep seeing people say that not a lot of people live here and use that to justify ignoring us, but that's not true depending on how you look at it. If you look at it from our perspective a lot of people do live here because Guyana is a small country, 125,000 people is a very large part of our population, and most of our Amerindian communities are here.

Lastly, I think that we should start using the name Chiipi Wa'o instead of the Essequibo because it puts more emphasis on the people who live here and better represents our Guyanese people.

Chiipi Wa'o is we own!