Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez with the newly elected governor of Guayana Esequiba, Neil Villamizar, at the latter's swearing-in ceremony, June 5, 2025. Photo: Comisión Esequibo.
The vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, said that Venezuela will not recognize any ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or of any other international organization on the Essequibo, and will defend the Geneva Agreement of 1966 as the only mechanism to solve the controversy with Guyana regarding this territory.
“The Geneva Agreement is the only mechanism to solve this territorial dispute, and Venezuela will defend itself with all the tools provided by international law to assert its historical and legitimate rights,” she said at the swearing in ceremony of the new governor of the state of Guayana Esequiba, Neil Villamizar, on Thursday, June 5.
Rodríguez, who represents Venezuela at international instances regarding the Essequibo dispute, pointed out that the nation never recognized “the establishment of the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice to solve this controversy.”
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“We did not recognize it, nor are we going to recognize what may come out of this rigged procedure, manipulated by transnational corporations,” the vice president highlighted.
“The affairs of our country,” she continued, “such as territory, territorial integrity, sovereignty, and peace, will never be handed over to third parties: neither to courts, nor to whatever they may be called.”
Caracas maintains that it never gave its consent for the process that Guyana filed at the ICJ against Venezuela. According to Rodríguez, the president of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, with the backing of ExxonMobil and the US government, is acting in “bad faith” regarding the mechanisms for the resolution of the dispute.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
