A consultative referendum was initiated by the government of Nicolás Maduro regarding Venezuela's claim over the Guayana Esequiba, whose territory is disputed with, and controlled by, neighboring Guyana.

The referendum consisted of five questions concerning various aspects of Venezuela's claim to territory controlled and administered by Guyana, including rejection of the International Court of Justice's jurisdiction over the dispute, the establishment of a Guayana Esequiba state, and granting its population immediate Venezuelan citizenship.

[5] Following the poor turnout, the chief prosecutor of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, accused opposition leaders of sabotaging the referendum and issued arrest warrants for 15 of them, with charges such as treason and conspiracy.

[8] The United States House of Representatives proposed Resolution 252 to Congress, which recommended the dispute be resolved by international arbitration following pressure from American president Grover Cleveland.

[8] During the Venezuelan crisis of 1895, the Schomburgk Line was proposed as a border between Venezuela and British Guiana but neither of the parties agreed on the exact boundary.

[12] Venezuela's claim to the territory it calls "Guayana Esequiba" is one of the only issues that receives unified support from both chavistas and the Venezuelan opposition.

[2] Critics of the referendum believe that it is a way to test support for the ruling government ahead of next year's elections, as well as creating pressure for international courts to grant Venezuela full rights over the territory.

[5] Opposition politician Henrique Capriles, who also voted in the referendum, declared that the turnout was around 10.2%, saying that each voter had five choices, which would mean that 2,110,864 people participated.

[31] The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, issued a statement condemning the consultation, considering that "it is illegal according to the 1966 Geneva Agreement".

[33][34] The Unitary Platform opposition coalition called on the population to decide "freely" and making use of their "free will" whether to participate in the referendum and how to answer to its questions.

[36][37][38] Opposition presidential candidate María Corina Machado assured that sovereignty was not consulted, but exercised, and asked to suspend the referendum in order to form a national team to file a claim at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

[40][41] Through a public statement, Justice First condemned the intention to "politically instrumentalize a matter that corresponds to national sovereignty",[38] and a statement published by Popular Will read: "The territorial integrity of a country must be defined by means of the exercise of the State's authority and backed by the legitimacy granted by international laws and historical tradition", besides denouncing that public employees were being forced to vote in the referendum.

[46] The Venezuelan government accused the opposition of calling to boycotting the referendum and of violating agreements signed in Barbados, which included the ratification of Venezuela's "historical, sovereign and inalienable rights" over the Essequibo territory.