The International Court of Justice will today hear arguments for Guyana’s request for the Court to block a number of the questions in Venezuela’s planned referendum on Guyana’s Essequibo region.

Guyana wrote to the Court two weeks ago, bringing the Court’s attention to the planned referendum to be held in Venezuela in December, and asking the Court to block a number of questions in the referendum that are related to the Essequibo region and the current case before the International Court.

The planned referendum, which has been rejected by Guyana and a number of international organizations, is seeking the support from the Venezuelan public to not only reject the current hearing before the ICJ, but to also bolster the country’s claim of Guyana’s Essequibo region by seeking to make the Essequibo a Venezuelan state and issue Venezuelan identity cards to citizens of the Essequibo.

Guyana wants all of those questions shut out of the referendum.

The Government of Guyana, with support of the Opposition, has not only rejected Venezuela’s latest acts of aggression, but has also been informing the international community about the situation and the build up of Venezuelan military troops near the Guyana border.

Guyana moved to the International Court in 2018, seeking a final juridical settlement of the border controversy. The Court has established its jurisdiction to hear the matter.

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