Border controversy: ICJ asked to block Venezuela’s unlawful elections in Guyana’s Essequibo region

Guyana is seeking to block attempts by Venezuela to hold elections in the Essequibo region – two-thirds of Guyana’s landmass, contending that this action by the Spanish-speaking nation “flagrantly violates” provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) back in December 2023.
In a statement on Thursday, the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ministry said it has filed in the Registry of the ICJ, a request for the indication of provisional measures in the border controversy case currently before the court concerning the Arbitral Award of October 3, 1899, which determined the boundary between the South American neighbours.
According to the Ministry, this move was prompted by Venezuela’s announcement of its plans to hold elections in Guyana’s Essequibo region, which is an integral part of Guyana’s national territory, and which Venezuela purported to annex in violation of the World Court’s order of December 1, 2023 and fundamental norms of international law.
“Guyana informed the Court that the planned Venezuelan elections are scheduled to take place on 25 May 2025 and would inevitably be preceded by preparatory acts, including acts within Guyana’s Essequibo region, affecting the Guyanese population and Guyana’s sovereignty over its territory.
“Therefore, in order to preserve its rights, Guyana is requesting that the Court order Venezuela to refrain from any acts within or affecting its sovereign territory, including the Essequibo region,” the missive from Takuba Lodge stated.
This is the second time Guyana has had to write the ICJ over Venezuelan’s aggression even as the court is hearing the case to settle the decades-long border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela.
Back in December 2023, Guyana had approached the World Court after Venezuela’s threat to seize and annex Guyana’s Essequibo region. In response, the ICJ had ordered Venezuela to refrain from any actions to disturb Guyana’s administration and control of that territory pending the conclusion of the case.
In that December 1, 2023 ICJ Order, it was noted “…(1) Unanimously, pending a final decision in the case, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela shall refrain from taking any action which would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute, whereby the Co-operative Republic of Guyana administers and exercises control over that area…”
In Thursday’s correspondence to the ICJ, Guyana told the Court that Venezuela’s plans to hold elections in Essequibo flagrantly violates that 2023 order.
“Guyana’s current request seeks confirmation of this by the Court, as well as an explicit directive to refrain from any electoral activities within or affecting this territory or it population, which consist of Guyanese nationals,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Moreover, Guyana has further requested the World Court to convene hearings on its recent request as soon as possible, to enable such provisional measures, as might be indicated by the Court, to be issued before “serious and irremediable” prejudice to Guyana’s rights occurs.
Speaking about this new development, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday afternoon reiterated that Guyana would continue to pursue the legal settlement of the border controversy.
“Our positions are known. We will pursue this at the ICJ. [Venezuela’s plans for elections in Essequibo] it’s contrary to the provisional rulings of the ICJ… It’s not only a breach of the ruling of the ICJ but the Argyle agreement,” Jagdeo stated.
Guyana and Venezuela had signed the Argyle Declaration on December 14, 2023 after the historic Caricom/CELAC/Brazil-brokered meeting between Presidents Dr Irfaan Ali and Nicolás Maduro in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), signalling their commitment to Latin America and the Caribbean remaining a Zone of Peace.
Only on Wednesday, Principal Interlocutor in the Argyle Declaration, SVG Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves called for peace to be maintained, saying there should be no provocation.
This was after a Venezuelan naval vessel entered Guyana’s waters on March 1 and engaged several vessels conducting oil operations in the Stabroek Block offshore in Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), where nearly 11 billion barrels of oil-equivalent has been discovered since 2015 and where production activities are currently ongoing. In addition to the Essequibo, Venezuela is also laying claim to Guyana’s EEZ.
The Guyana Government has since activated a series of responses, including the deployment of military resources offshore, engaging the international community and it has also sent a formal protest note to Venezuela.
There have since been widespread condemnation of Venezuela’s incursion into Guyana’s maritime territory from several of Guyana’s allies, including the United States, as well as regional and international bodies such as the Organisation of American States (OAS), Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the Commonwealth as well as from former Latin American leaders.

Weak position
According to the Vice President on Thursday, “We will continue [working] with all of our partners, we have strong support… Venezuela is in a weak position. And the infantile rant by several top officials in Venezuela by calling President Ali ‘Zelenskiy’ [of the Caribbean], I think, somehow, in their warped framework of analysis, they think if they were to do that, that somehow it may change the US’s longstanding support for Guyana on the border issue. It’s such a child-like, baby-like rant from some of their top officials.”