When dictators run out of ideas, they reach for the nationalist playbook. In this case its toothless — for now

Running out of popularity and ideas? Well, why not run a sham referendum to ask your people if that territorial dispute with your neighbour should just be resolved by invading and annexing it.

Such is the solution of Venezuela, which put the annexation of Essequibo, a region that takes up roughly two-thirds of present-day Guayana, to a vote Sunday. Venezuelans approved the referendum, according to officials.

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The region has long been a sore spot for Venezuelans. The tension goes back to 1899, when colonial boundaries for this part of the world were drawn by a slightly bizarre tribunal involving the Americans (representing Venezuela), the Russians (by historical quirk the “neutrals” in this case) and the British (whose former colony of Guyana is the only English-speaking part of continental South America).

Back then, no one knew Essequibo had oil, and although a territorial friction point, it wasn’t one worth going to war over. That all changed in 2015 when U.S. behemoth ExxonMobil discovered several oil fields off the coast of Essequibo, and inside Guyana’s exclusive economic zone.

For President Nicolás Maduro, the deeply unpopular and incompetent leader of Venezuela, the dispute now........

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