Acting President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez told the International Court of Justice this afternoon that the people of Venezuela through the Referendum vote taken on December 03, 2023, decided how the border controversy should be resolved.

She said Venezuela intends to respect that vote by its citizens, as well as its historical position on the border matter.

A consultative referendum was initiated by the Government of deposed Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, regarding Venezuela’s claim over Guyana’s Essequibo on the 3rd December 2023.

The Referendum, which sought to make Guyana’s Essequibo a Venezuelan state, was frowned upon by Guyana and the international community. The ICJ had also issued an interim order that the administration of Essequibo continues as is.

But the Acting Venezuelan President said Venezuela received a mandate through its Referendum vote and will abide by it.

“The People of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on the 03rd of December 2023, turned out in large numbers at the polls and gave us a series of clear and unequivocal mandates. Firstly, the mandate the maintain the historical position of existential matters such as independence and territorial integrity to judicial mechanisms. Secondly, their mandate to uphold the Geneva agreement as the only valid, legal instrument for resolving territorial dispute over the Essequibo,’ Rodriguez told the court.

She said the people also gave the Government a mandate to defend the Essequibo region in line with international law.

Rodriguez went on to say that Venezuela’s position to not submit or cooperate with the judicial process in the border case is not an act of defiance, nor of disregard for the court.

Instead, she said, it is a matter of defending its sovereignty, noting that Venezuela has never consented to submitting the territorial question to the Jurisdiction of the Court.

“With this in mind, since 2018, Venezuela has filed a number of submissions and has intervened in several hearings before this court with a double purpose, firstly, to attempt to uphold international law in the face of this anti-legal absurdity promoted by Guyana. Secondly, to demonstrate to the world the truth the rights that since its inception territory belong to Venezuela,’ Rodriguez noted.

Rodriguez told the packed ICJ Hall that her country’s participation in the process should never be interpreted to mean that Venezuela accepts the court’s jurisdiction, but must also be seen as her country respect for international law.

To this end she maintained that her country still believes there could be a negotiated solution to the settlement.

“A negotiated solution is therefore an inevitable and an indispensable condition of the controversy. The Geneva agreement buries and moves beyond the discussion over the validity of invalidity of the 1899 award. The agreement recognizes that the framework cannot be circumvented or replaced through unilateral recourse,” Rodriguez stated.

 Rodriguez went further to say that the 1966 Geneva agreement is legally binding on both parties and must be complied with by the parties in good faith. That agreement, she said, seeks to resolve a colonial injustice through a mutually acceptable settlement.

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