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Venezuela’s government has said it “categorically” rejected a ruling from the U N’s top court ordering the South American country to refrain from holding elections for officials who supposedly would oversee a resource-rich region in neighboring Guyana that both countries claim as their own.
The government of Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president, in a statement underscored its historical position to not recognize the jurisdiction of the international court of justice and asserted that international law does not allow the body to “interfere” or “attempt to prohibit” an election.
The government’s statement came a day after the court, based in The Hague, issued the ruling at the request of Guyana, which accused Venezuela of violating an earlier order by planning to hold elections on 25 May for a governor and other officials to administer the Essequibo region.
“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 Venezuelan statement read.
In its petition to the ICJ, Guyana had said that the elections would cause “irreparable harm” to the Essequibo region, which makes up two-thirds of its territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens.
The Essequibo “is an inalienable part of the Venezuelan territory and a legacy of our liberators”, according to Venezuela’s statement on Friday. “Its defense is a historical, constitutional, and a moral mandate that unites the entire Bolivarian Homeland. No international pressure, judicial blackmail, or foreign tribunal will make us back down from this conviction.”
The sparsely populated area under dispute represents two-thirds of Guyana and is rich in gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources. It also is located close to huge offshore oil deposits, with current production averaging about 650,000 barrels a day.
Venezuela has always considered Essequibo as its own because the region was within its boundaries during the Spanish colonial period. It has long dismissed the border drawn by international arbitrators in 1899, when Guyana was still a British colony.
After years of fruitless mediation, Guyana asked the world court in 2018 to rule that the 1899 border decision is valid and binding. Venezuela argues that a 1966 agreement to resolve the dispute in effect nullified the original arbitration.
The case is still pending in court while tensions between the two countries keep rising.
In late 2023, Maduro threatened to annex the region by force after holding a referendum asking voters if Essequibo should be turned into a Venezuelan state. Days later, Caribbean leaders, joined by Brazil and the UN, held an emergency summit where Guyana and Venezuela agreed to refrain from using force. But the dispute continues.
In March, Guyana’s president, Irfaan Ali, denounced an incursion by an armed Venezuelan naval vessel in disputed waters that are home to a major offshore oil deposit being developed by ExxonMobil. The Venezuelan vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, disputed Ali’s claims and called ExxonMobil’s oil installations “illegal”.
Venezuelan voters will head to the polls later this month to elect governors and lawmakers.
