Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez yesterday renewed her country’s claim to Guyana’s Essequibo region before the United Nations General Assembly and called on Georgetown to return to bilateral negotiations, although the border controversy is awaiting a decision from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“Here, I appeal to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana to resolve the issue and to return to negotiations as stipulated by the Geneva Agreement,” she said, according to the English transcript of her address.
“Agreements which last the longest are those that emerge from bilateral negotiations; they last longer and function better than those imposed by external bodies,” Rodríguez added.
Her remarks restated Venezuela’s objection to having the controversy settled by the ICJ. Guyana’s case asks the court to confirm that the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the boundary between the then British Guiana and Venezuela, remains valid and binding.
Rodríguez wore a pin during the address that showed Essequibo included as part of Venezuela.
In April, President Irfaan Ali protested Rodríguez’s display of a map depicting Essequibo as Venezuelan territory during official visits to CARICOM countries. He called it a provocative assertion of a claim that Guyana rejects and which is before the ICJ.
The dispute over how the controversy should be resolved goes to the meaning of the 1966 Geneva Agreement, which Rodríguez invoked in her speech. As Stabroek News has reported, efforts to reach a settlement included a UN Good Offices process that began in 1990. After years without significant progress, UN Secretary-General António Guterres chose the ICJ as the means of settlement in January 2018. Guyana filed its case that March.
Venezuela challenged the court’s authority to hear the matter. In December 2020, however, the ICJ ruled that it had jurisdiction. The court found that, under the Geneva Agreement, the parties had given the UN Secretary-General authority to choose a means of settlement, including judicial settlement by the ICJ.
Tensions rose sharply ahead of Venezuela’s December 2023 referendum on Essequibo. One question proposed the creation of a Venezuelan state encompassing the region. On December 1, the ICJ ordered Venezuela to refrain from taking action that would change the situation in the territory, which Guyana administers and controls. The order was an interim measure, issued while the court considered the underlying case.
The court issued a further interim order in May 2025 after Venezuela announced plans for elections relating to Essequibo. It directed Venezuela to refrain from conducting, or preparing to conduct, elections in the territory administered by Guyana, pending a final decision.
Stabroek News reported last year that Rodríguez, commenting on Venezuela’s final written pleading to the ICJ, again described the Geneva Agreement as the route to a settlement acceptable to both countries. Guyana welcomed the filing but maintained that the controversy should be resolved by the court. Hearings on the merits of the case concluded in May this year; a final judgment has not yet been delivered.
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