UPDATE VENEZUELA-Venezuela rejects ICJ ruling on pending elections in Essequibo

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC—The Guyana government Friday said it has taken note of the Venezuelan government’s “unfortunate reaction” to the order issued on Thursday by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that called on the South American country to refrain from conducting or preparing to conduct elections in Guyana’s Essequibo region.

On Friday, Caracas said that “nothing in international law allows the International Court of Justice to interfere in matters that are the exclusive domain of Venezuelan domestic law, nor to seek to prohibit a sovereign act.”

The Nicolas Maduro government said the Essequibo “is an inalienable part of the Venezuelan territory and a legacy of our liberators.

“Its defense is a historical, constitutional, and moral mandate that unites the entire Bolivarian Homeland. No international pressure, judicial blackmail, or foreign tribunal will make us back down from this conviction.”

Thursday, The ICJ, hearing the decades-old border dispute between the two countries, unanimously reaffirmed provisional measures granted in December 2023 as part of the substantive case before the ICJ regarding the Arbitral Award of October 03, 1899.

On Thursday, the Court said, “Pending a final decision in the case, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela shall refrain from conducting elections, or preparing to conduct elections, in the territory in dispute, which the Cooperative Republic of Guyana currently administers and over which it exercises control.”

Venezuela intends to hold elections in Guyana’s Essequibo on May 25 so that a governor and other officials can administer the Essequibo. This oil-rich region makes up about two-thirds of Guyana and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. It is also close to massive offshore oil deposits, with production averaging 650,000 barrels daily.

In its latest statement, Georgetown said it “expects that the Government of Venezuela will act responsibly in complying with the Courts Orders of both 1 December 2023 and 1 May 2025 which are legally binding on both States and in so complying, fully respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana.

“The Government of Guyana further wishes to remind the Government of Venezuela that it has no intention of entering into bilateral negotiations with Venezuela regarding Venezuela’s claim of nullity of the 1899 Arbitral Award and, by extension, its claim to almost two-thirds of Guyana’s territory.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said this matter is pending before the ICJ, according to the decision of the United Nations Secretary-General, by the 1966 Geneva Agreement on the settlement of the controversy, an agreement to which both Guyana and Venezuela are parties.

“The Court’s Judgment will be definitive, final, and binding on Guyana and Venezuela. The Government of Guyana urges the Government of Venezuela to do more than pay lip service to the Geneva Agreement and to comply with its provisions, including but not limited to Article IV(2). Essequibo is Guyana’s,” the ministry added.

In 2023, Caracas claimed that more than half of eligible Venezuelan voters had taken part in a referendum that yielded overwhelming support for claiming the Essequibo.

The referendum came after the ICJ warned Caracas against the “annexation” of the Essequibo. In January, the Guyana government expressed “grave concern” over what it claimed to have been “recent actions and statements” by the Venezuelan government that constitute” clear violations” of the Argyle Agreement and the binding order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), both of which came into effect in December 2023.

Georgetown recalled that the Argyle Agreement, signed in St Vincent and the Grenadines in December 2023 in the presence of regional and international interlocutors, unequivocally commits Guyana and Venezuela to refrain from escalating any conflict or disagreement arising from the territorial controversy between the two States.

It said that this includes refraining from actions that could aggravate tensions or alter the disputed territory’s current situation, pending international law resolution.