Guyana said Thursday it will seek help from the United Nations’ highest court to dissuade neighboring Venezuela from electing a governor for its western Essequibo region, a resource-rich area that Venezuela has long claimed as its own.
Guyana’s Foreign Ministry stated in a statement that Venezuela’s plan violates a December 2022 agreement between both countries not to provoke conflict or escalate tensions over the mineral- and oil-rich region, which comprises two-thirds of Guyana’s land mass. .
“The inhabitants of the Essequibo region of Guyana are Guyanese living in the sovereign territory of Guyana,” the ministry said. “It would be a flagrant violation of the most fundamental principles of international law, enshrined in the UN Charter, for Venezuela to attempt to hold an election on Guyanese territory with the participation of Guyanese.”
The ministry said it would ask the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands to establish provisional measures to prevent Venezuela from maintaining its plans to elect a governor of Essequibo.
He noted that Venezuela’s plans to administratively incorporate Essequibo as part of its territory “not only jeopardize the judicial process, but also undermine the authority of the court as the main judicial body of the United Nations.”
Venezuela has always considered the Essequibo region as its own because it was within its limits during the Spanish colonial period. He has long dismissed the border drawn by international arbitrators in 1899, when Guyana was still a British colony.
After years of unsuccessful mediation, Guyana went to the world court in 2018, asking judges to rule that the 1899 decision is valid and binding. Venezuela argues that a 1966 agreement to resolve the dispute nullified the original arbitration.
A ruling is not expected this year because Venezuela has until the end of August to respond to the arguments presented by Guyana.
Venezuela’s interest in the Essequibo region intensified after huge quantities of oil and gas were discovered off the coast of Guyana in 2015, with current oil production at 650,000 barrels per day.
The latest dispute between the two countries comes just weeks after Guyana objected to the completion of a bridge by the Venezuelan military on the Guyanese side of the border island of Ankoko, calling it a violation of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. .
Tensions between the two countries eased for most of last year, especially after Guyana in May allowed the U.S. air force to fly fighter jets over Georgetown, the capital, in a show of support for the country.
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