HGP Nightly News – Venezuela has again signalled that it has no intention of backing away from its claim to Guyana’s Essequibo region, with Interim President Delcy Rodriguez telling the International Court of Justice that her country’s position on the border controversy remains unchanged.
Rodriguez addressed the World Court on Monday, the final day of oral submissions in the Guyana-Venezuela border case. Guyana is asking the ICJ to confirm the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award, which settled the boundary between the two countries and placed the Essequibo region under Guyana’s control.
However, Venezuela used its appearance before the court to make clear that it does not accept the ICJ as the body to determine the controversy. Caracas maintains that the matter must be addressed through the 1966 Geneva Agreement and a negotiated settlement between the two countries. Recent reporting from Reuters and the Associated Press also confirms that Venezuela has continued to challenge the ICJ’s jurisdiction while Guyana is seeking legal confirmation of the 1899 award.
In her submission, Rodriguez said the Venezuelan people had already given their government clear instructions through the December 3, 2023 referendum. She argued that the vote produced what she described as an unmistakable mandate to maintain Venezuela’s historic position on territorial integrity and to reject judicial mechanisms as the route for settling the controversy.
She further told the court that Venezuelans had mandated their government to uphold the Geneva Agreement as the only valid legal instrument for resolving the dispute over the Essequibo.
Rodriguez insisted that a negotiated solution remains central to Venezuela’s position, saying such an approach is both necessary and unavoidable. She argued that the Geneva Agreement moved the matter beyond the question of whether the 1899 Award was valid or invalid.
Guyana, however, has long maintained that the 1899 Arbitral Award is valid and binding, and that the Essequibo forms part of its sovereign territory. The case before the ICJ is therefore seen by Georgetown as a critical legal step in bringing finality to a controversy that has persisted for decades.
The Essequibo region remains at the heart of the dispute because of its size, natural resources, and strategic importance. Venezuela continues to claim the area, while Guyana insists that the border was settled more than a century ago and must be respected.
