<span style="color: #222222;">In Venezuela, citizens voted in a referendum to seal the fate of a disputed region called Essequibo. More than 95 percent of Venezuelans approved of establishing a new state in the region. President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, hailed the people's mandate. This follows the discovery of oil in the waters off Essequibo's coast by United States oil giant ExxonMobil in 2015. <br />''<br />''It is not yet clear what the Venezuelan government plans to do with the result of the referendum, but any attempt to take the territory by force would spark a strong international backlash. Guyana, which controls the oil rich territory, has condemned the vote as an aggressive attempt at annexation, while the International Court of Justice ordered Venezuela on Friday to refrain from any concrete action that may alter the status quo in the area. </span><br />