Venezuelan border controversy: ICJ to hear Guyana’s case to block Venezuela’s referendum today

– given 1½ hours to present its arguments

– Venezuela to present its case on Wednesday

Guyana will today formally put forward its case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations’ highest court, in a bid to halt Venezuela’s referendum that attempts to annex Essequibo, which is set for December 3, 2023.
The delegation from Guyana will present oral arguments from 10:00h to 11:30h (The Hague time) today at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, the seat of the court. Venezuela’s delegation will present its oral arguments on Wednesday at the same time.
After abiding by the 1899 Arbitral Award for almost half a century, Venezuela in 1962 claimed that the Essequibo area of Guyana belonged inside its borders. Guyana has noted that the boundary between the then-colony of British Guiana and Venezuela was determined by the Arbitral Award as a “full” and “final” settlement.
Tensions further heated up after ExxonMobil found oil in Essequibo. In 2018, UN Secretary General António Guterres, under the terms of the 1966 Geneva Agreement, chose the ICJ as the means to be used for the solution of the controversy.
In its most recent application to the ICJ, Guyana condemned what it described as “Venezuela’s sinister plan for seizing Guyanese territory” and asked the ICJ to provide urgent protection. It is requesting an order from the ICJ prohibiting Venezuela from carrying out the referendum as planned.
Guyana highlighted that the sole goal of the referendum was “to obtain responses that would support Venezuela’s decision to abandon” the ICJ proceedings in order “to formally annex and integrate” Essequibo into its territory. The referendum proposes giving Venezuelan citizenship to the residents of an annexed Essequibo.
In April 2022, the ICJ ruled it had jurisdiction over the long-running border controversy between the South American nations. In so doing, it rejected Venezuela’s argument that the United Kingdom (UK) should be involved as Guyana was a British colony in 1899.
Hearings on the case’s merits are the next stage and a final decision might not come for years.
Based on a 10-year-old census, the Essequibo area accounts for almost two-thirds of Guyana with around 125,000 of its 800,000 inhabitants living there.
Only a few days ago, María Machado, widely considered the presidential frontrunner in Venezuela’s upcoming 2024 electoral race, publicly denounced the upcoming December 3 referendum and urged the Nicolás Maduro regime to adhere to the ICJ’s resolution of the border controversy with Guyana.
The Opposition politician, who is a former member of the Venezuelan National Assembly, was recently interviewed by Miami-based online publication Infobae. During that interview, Machado was asked her thoughts on the December 3 Venezuelan referendum that the Maduro regime is using to get a mandate to illegally annex Essequibo.
Not only did Machado make it clear that the referendum does more harm than good for Venezuela, but she also denounced the Maduro regime’s actions as irresponsible and urged them to focus on preparing a proper defence for its case before the ICJ, where the border controversy awaits a final and binding settlement.
“I’m not going to speculate what they’re looking for. What I can tell you is that this does not help the defence of Essequibo and the territorial integrity of Venezuela. On the contrary, once again, the regime’s irresponsible actions are putting Venezuela’s sovereignty at risk in a territory that is strategic and that belongs to Venezuela,” Machado said.
Last month, the Venezuelan National Electoral Council published a list of five questions it plans to put before the Venezuelan people in a referendum set for December 3, 2023. One question (#5) proposes the creation of the Venezuelan State of Guyana Essequibo and an accelerated plan for giving Venezuelan citizenship and identity cards to the Guyanese population.
After years of failed good offices process via the UN, Guyana is seeking a final and binding judgement to reinforce that the 1899 Arbitral Award remains valid and binding on all parties, as well as legal affirmation that Guyana’s Essequibo region, which contains much of the country’s natural resources, belongs to Guyana and not Venezuela.
Guyana’s Spanish-speaking neighbour has laid claim to more than two-thirds of Guyana’s landmass in the Essequibo region, and to a portion of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in which nearly 11 billion barrels of oil have been discovered largely by United States oil giant ExxonMobil.
The Maduro regime has accused the Guyana Government of being a puppet of ExxonMobil and the US Southern Command. And the Venezuelan President has called on President Dr Irfaan Ali to abandon the ICJ process and engage in bilateral discussions with Venezuela, mediated by the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
The Guyana Government has, however, already declared its commitment to resolving this longstanding border controversy with Venezuela through the legal process at the World Court. This position was also reaffirmed by Guyana’s National Assembly in a unanimous vote last week.
Over the past few weeks, Guyana has been informing regional and international partners of Venezuela’s planned referendum, which has been criticised by the United States, Caricom, and the Organisation of American States (OAS), as well as several other nations in the Region, including Brazil.
There is a consensus that Venezuela’s referendum threatens the peace, security, and stability of the Region.