Delcy Rodríguez: Venezuela is ready and prepared to move forward in direct negotiations on Esequibo

Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, presented to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) the fundamental arguments supporting the nation's historical rights over the Guayana Esequiba, highlighting that Venezuela is the only party with legitimate ownership of this territory. In an extensive intervention, the leader emphasized that the negotiation process with the neighboring country was not abandoned by Venezuela. Guyana undermined the negotiation… That change was not innocent, it coincides with a world-famous oil discovery, Guyana stopped acting in good faith. Rodríguez insisted that the only way to resolve the dispute is through direct dialogue, so she advocated for resuming conversations to honor the history of coexistence between the two nations and thus build a 'shared future'. Venezuela is ready and prepared to achieve the noble and peaceful purpose of the Geneva Agreement to reach by all means a practical, satisfactory, and mutually acceptable solution for the parties. She pointed out that 'no sentence from this Court on the territorial dispute will provide a definitive solution acceptable to both parties' and that it would only lead to 'preserving the difference and would lead the parties to entrench themselves in their respective positions, distancing them from a practical arrangement'. In her first trip outside the Caribbean as acting president of Venezuela, Rodríguez went to The Hague to represent Caracas's position in this territorial dispute - something she had already done previously as vice president - and maintained the same arguments that the country held during the hearings held in recent years before the ICJ in this case. She urged seeking mutually beneficial creative formulas' that allow 'transforming a dispute inherited from colonialism into an opportunity for cooperation, joint development, and well-being' between both peoples. The controversy revolves around the Esequibo region, a territory of approximately 160,000 square kilometers that represents about two-thirds of Guyana's current territory. This area, rich in natural resources and under Guyanese administration for over a century, is claimed by Caracas as part of its territory. The litigation dates back to March 2018, when Guyana filed a lawsuit with the ICJ, the highest court of the United Nations, to declare the 'legal validity and binding effect' of that award, as well as the definitive nature of the border delimitation. Caracas declared the award null in 1962, considering it to have been surrounded by alleged irregularities. Georgetown invoked the Geneva Agreement of 1966, signed between Venezuela and the United Kingdom, as the basis for the Court's jurisdiction and a means of dispute resolution between states. Venezuela communicated in June 2018 that it did not recognize the court's jurisdiction and would not participate in the proceedings, leading the ICJ to first address the question of its jurisdiction over the case. In December 2020, the Court concluded that it did have jurisdiction to rule on the validity of the 1899 award and on the definitive resolution of the territorial dispute. Later, in April 2023, it rejected a preliminary objection presented by Caracas and confirmed that it could examine the merits of the case. The process has been accompanied by recent tensions: in October 2023, Guyana requested provisional measures in response to Venezuela's intention to hold a referendum on the creation of the so-called 'Guayana Esequiba' State, which would encompass the disputed territory.