Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said on Thursday that “we extend our hand to Guyana to resolve the current territorial dispute” in accordance with the Geneva Agreement of 1966, during her intervention before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of Nations United Nations (UN), in The Hague.
Rodriguez presented Venezuela’s claims ahead of a lawsuit filed by Guyana at the ICJ to ratify the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award, one of the reasons for the existing territorial dispute between the two nations.
“Guyana and the United Kingdom recognized in 1966 Venezuela’s claim and therefore committed themselves to an amicable settlement through their subsequent accession to the Geneva Agreement,” Rodriguez said.
The Vice President of Venezuela reiterated that her country “continues to believe that the Court has no jurisdiction in this case; however, we will demonstrate that Guyana’s claim is unacceptable.”
Among the arguments presented, Rodriguez noted that to resolve the dispute requested by Guyana, the United Kingdom, which is “the necessary party in this claim, is not present.”
Rodriguez’s contention is based on the fact that the 1899 Arbitral Award, on which Guyana seeks its ratification, did not involve that country at the time, but the United Kingdom as a colonial nation.
“Venezuela cannot oppose the rights and obligations of the behavior of a state that is absent in these processes,” he said in this context.
Rodriguez indicated that an ICJ ruling rejecting the claim made “unilaterally” by Guyana “will positively and constructively contribute” to the goal of an amicable settlement of the territorial dispute.
