Venezuela border controversy: Guyana updates Commonwealth Ministerial Group on ICJ case

…UK, Canada, South Africa, Bangladesh among members

A 24-year-old Commonwealth Ministerial Group established with the specific aim of focusing on the Guyana–Venezuela border controversy was on Tuesday provided with an update on the case by Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry explained in a statement that Todd held a virtual meeting with the group, which currently comprises Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Canada, Guyana, Jamaica, South Africa and the United Kingdom (UK).
“The Honourable Hugh Hilton Todd, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation earlier today (Tuesday) provided an update on the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy to the Commonwealth Ministerial Group on Guyana (CMGG),” a release issued by the ministry stated.
The Commonwealth Ministerial Group of Guyana was established at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Durban in 1999 to monitor developments in respect of the existing controversy between Guyana and Venezuela.
Additionally, Guyana has consistently received support from all of the ABC countries – US, the UK and Canada. Support for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to serve as the final decision-making forum on the controversy has also come from the European Union (EU), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Commonwealth.

The case is currently before the ICJ, with Guyana and Venezuela given until December 9, 2024 and August 11, 2025 respectively, to make a second round of written submissions. While both sides had agreed that a second round of written pleadings were necessary, the two sides differed on the time period to submit them.
Guyana had proposed a six-month period from April, while Venezuela had requested a 12-month period. Venezuela had claimed that the 12-month period was necessary given the case’s complexity. This, however, was in spite of the ICJ’s procedural rules which generally favor shorter time limits. Guyana’s side argued that this request was excessive.
The case has been before the ICJ since it was brought there in 2018 by Guyana, after the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Antonio Gutterres forwarded the case to the world court, as per the procedure adumbrated in the Geneva Agreement. The Secretary-General chose the ICJ as the means to resolve the controversy legally, in keeping with the dispute mechanism outlined by Article 33 of the UN Charter.
Guyana submitted its memorial since March 2022, with Venezuela given until April 2024 to submit its own counter-memorial. It did so on the very last day. This came after two attempts by Venezuela to challenge the court’s jurisdiction to hear the matter, had been overturned.
The Government of Guyana has meanwhile had cause to inform all relevant international bodies, allies and other partners about Venezuela’s threatening actions at the border, where the Spanish speaking nation has been building up its military.
Earlier this year, Venezuela’s National Armed Forces built a bridge connecting Venezuela and Ankoko Island in Cuyuni River as it allegedly advances towards Guyana’s Essequibo region. Ankoko Island is shared by the two countries with each owning half, but Venezuela illegally took over the entire island and also established a military base in 1966 after Guyana gained independence.
This occurred despite the Joint Declaration of Argyle for Dialogue and Peace signed between the two countries in December 2023 which stated, inter alia, that they would not threaten or use force against each another.
The Presidents of both countries also engaged each other at the time, under the mediation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who hosted the dialogue, in the hopes of advancing bilateral relations outside of the substantive border controversy.