Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez showing a new document submitted to the International Court of Justice that proves Venezuela's historical deeds over the Essequibo Territory. Photo: Ministry for Industries.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez reported Monday, August 11, that a Venezuelan delegation submitted a new document to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) expanding, with additional evidence, the historical truth of the country’s rights to Guayana Esequiba.
“This morning, August 11, 2025, a new document was submitted to the International Court of Justice with the absolute and complete truth about Venezuela’s rights to Guayana Esequiba,” she stated from the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Caracas.
Rodríguez explained that Attorney General Reinaldo Muñoz, Ambassador to the United Nations Samuel Moncada, and state agents to the ICJ—acting for the Presidential Commission for the Defense of Guayana Esequiba—presented “50 volumes of this document” at the event.
“The document contains more than enough evidence of the alleged plundering of a criminal award based on a forged, illegitimate, and illegal treaty meant to deprive Venezuela of a vast territory such as Guayana Esequiba,” she added.
During her remarks, she showed a video of the presidential commission and Venezuela’s legal team arriving at the court to “reaffirm our historical position of not recognizing the court’s jurisdiction to resolve this territorial dispute.” The commission was received by ICJ officials, including Registrar Philippe Gautier.
“There, they presented documents, evidence, and proof of the fraudulent process surrounding the 1899 arbitration award and the 1897 Washington Treaty, which marked the first milestone of the Monroe Doctrine to strip Venezuela of its territory based on its immense wealth. It also demonstrates more than sufficiently how the Geneva Agreement, signed between the British Empire and Venezuela in 1966, and what would later become Guyana, is the only legal document governing this territorial dispute,” she asserted.
Rodríguez emphasized that Guyana’s 2018 ICJ action is “beyond absurd. It is an attempt to cross the red line of international legality and evade obligations under the Geneva Agreement.”
She stressed that over 125 years later, Guyana intends to reissue the “fraudulent award” of 1899, which has been “buried.”
Venezuela ratifies non-recognition of ICJ jurisdiction
The vice president read a statement outlining Venezuela’s official position:
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reports it submitted to the International Court of Justice today a new document expanding, with additional evidence, the historical truth and official position regarding its sovereign right over Guayana Esequiba. Venezuela has again demonstrated solid legal and factual grounds for its irrevocable position of not submitting territorial integrity issues to third parties, including the ICJ.”
She reiterated that the document ratifies the Venezuelan people’s mandate from the December 3, 2023, referendum not to recognize the ICJ or any judicial body for resolving the dispute.
“We do not recognize Guyana’s fraudulent judicial process under any circumstances, nor will we abide by any judgment. Therefore, submitting this document implies no consent or recognition of the court’s jurisdiction over Essequibo,” she clarified.
The statement’s unofficial translation reads:
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reports that it submitted a new document to the International Court of Justice today, expanding on the historical truth and official position regarding its sovereign right to the Guayana Esequiba.
Venezuela has once again demonstrated the solid legal and factual grounds for its irrevocable historical position of not submitting to third parties, including the International Court of Justice, issues related to its vital interests, such as its independence and territorial integrity.
This document ratifies the mandate of the Venezuelan people, emanating from the referendum of December 3, 2023, not to recognize the International Court of Justice or any other judicial body to resolve territorial disputes. Consequently, we do not recognize, under any circumstances, the fraudulent judicial process initiated by Guyana, nor will we abide by any judgment issued in this matter.
For this reason, the submission of this document does not imply Venezuela’s consent or recognition of the Court’s jurisdiction in the territorial dispute over Guayana Esequiba, nor any decision it may adopt on this matter.
The document submitted undoubtedly demonstrates the collusion between the British Empire of the time and the United States of America to disavow Venezuela’s historical titles and attempt to dispossess it of this territory, which has belonged to it since its inception, as one of the founding milestones of the Monroe Doctrine in the Americas.
Furthermore, this document fully demonstrates that the 1966 Geneva Agreement is the only legal document that obliges Venezuela and Guyana to resolve the territorial dispute through a practical, satisfactory, and mutually acceptable arrangement.
The Geneva Agreement forever buried the dispute over the 1899 Criminal Arbitration Award, transforming an unjust and illegitimate relationship, a product of colonialism, into one consistent with international anticolonialist law. It was within this framework, a product of decolonization processes, that the Geneva Agreement emerged. This Agreement also expressly recognizes an unresolved territorial dispute that can only be resolved through peaceful negotiation with results acceptable to both Venezuela and Guyana.
It is worth noting that the British Empire artificially fabricated a conflict over a portion of undisputed Venezuelan territory in an attempt to dispossess it due to its immense mineral and natural resources. Over 125 years later, Guyana repeats this colonialist practice, attempting to obtain ownership of the territory through a fraudulent legal dispute, in clear violation and disregard of the obligations established in the Geneva Agreement. The Cooperative Republic of Guyana has an inescapable obligation to fulfill its international commitments and negotiate in good faith, peacefully, and diplomatically with Venezuela, without resorting to military threats or force. It must not use extraregional powers to reinstate the structural coercion exerted for centuries against Venezuela to seize the natural resources of the disputed territory.
VP Delcy Rodríguez: Venezuela Will Not Recognize Any Ruling by ICJ on the Essequibo
Consequently, the only possible solution within international law lies in the Geneva Agreement, to reach a practical and mutually satisfactory agreement to the territorial dispute, which is incompatible with and precludes judicial resolution.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reaffirms its full commitment to the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations, including its absolute and inalienable adherence to the Geneva Agreement.
The Venezuelan people, united nationally and faithful to the legacy of our liberators, will defend their legitimate rights over Guayana Essequiba at all times and in all places.
The sun of Venezuela rises over the Essequibo!
Caracas, August 11, 2025
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SF
