-US think tank
Following its February 7th report, a US think tank says Venezuela is continuing to build up forces along Guyana’s border and there are risks of escalation with elections approaching in July and even after that.
In a piece yesterday entitled `The Essequibo Pressure Cooker: Runaway Nationalism and Maduro’s Compellence Strategy’, the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said that even though Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro is highly unlikely to win the election in a fair race, examples are legion of the “rally around the flag” effect during international crises, even if only in the short term and this is what he is doing with country’s claim to Essequibo.
In its February 7th piece, CSIS cited the concept of “compellence” where Venezuela is employing a carrot and stick policy to force concessions from Guyana.