Venezuela formally tells World Court referendum on Essequibo will go ahead; rules out seizure of Guyana’s territory

Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 November 2023, 6:19 by Denis Chabrol

Venezuela on Wednesday vowed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that its referendum on December 3, 2023 would go ahead to determine its future approach to Guyana’s Essequibo County but at the same time ruled out the annexation of that territory.

“The referendum is an internal domestic matter and is not meant in any way to result. in the annexation of the disputed territory,” International Law Professor Makane Moïse Mbengue told the court on behalf of Venezuela.

The ICJ has already declared that it has jurisdiction to hear Guyana’s substantive case that the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award of the land boundary with Venezuela.

The court will announce a date for its decision on Guyana’s request to block the referendum.

He added that Venezuela’s referendum and its domestic consequences are not and cannot be the subject of the proceedings before the court on the merits of the case. Mr Mebenge said Guyana’s requested measures by Guiana could not be subsumed by the court’s eventual judgement on the merits. “The court should, therefore, reject Guianas request for provisional measures,” he said.

He added that none of the outcomes of the referendum would have any adverse impact on Guyana’s allege title over the disputed territory, and even less create a risk of irreparable harm to Guyana.

For her part, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez told the World Court that “nothing will prevent the referendum scheduled for the third of December from being held” in response to Guyana’s arguments a day earlier for provisional measures to block the referendum that the former British colony said was setting the basis for the seizure of Essequibo, taking care of all its current and future inhabitants and the granting of citizenship and identification cards.

Mr Mbengue told the ICJ that Venezuela’s plan to incorporate Essequibo in its territory would not affect Guyana’s “alleged title to the disputed territory by the issuance of IDs but would benefit the population in the border communities. ” “This would benefit the frontier population, particularly those who engage in commercial and day to day activities and will ensure the free movement of persons in the area,” he said. He sought to justify Venezuela’s intention to incorporate Essequibo into its map, arguing that that Spanish-speaking nation “has a plausible claim to the disputed territory.”

Mr Mbenge argued that nothing was wrong with holding a referendum especially when the territory especially when the boundaries or extent of the national territory is under threat. “Nothing in international law allows Guyana to dictate to Venezuela, through the court, how its constitutional bodies should perform their functions,” he said. He said the court could not adopt interim measures that interfere with the holding of a democratic referendum, as was being requested by Guiana.  “It would be unprecedented for one state to force another to forego a domestic popular consultation and for the court to indicate to a state not to consult its population on such a crucial matter,” he said.

The Venezuela Vice President stressed that her country would go ahead with the popular will of the people. “No one can deny or divide this right finally, the state of Venezuela will not turn its back on what the people decide during the referendum,” she said. Ms Rodriguez denied Guyana’s claims that Venezuela was threatening peace and security in the region and accused Guyana of using the ICJ to interfere in her country’s internal affairs. Nothing is above the constitution,” she said.

Ms Rodriguez displayed a number of publications, claiming that Guyana has had a record of taking steps with the United States to “strengthen preparedness through tactical and operational integration.”

Vice President Rodriguez said Venezuela’s appearance before the ICJ did not constitute the jurisdiction of that court but opted to present its arguments to counter Guyana’s crude and childish manipulation of her country’s historic legal position. “Without prejudice to our position, and doctrine on jurisdiction. We come before this court to defend independence, sovereignty and self-determination as the inalienable rights of our nation,” she said. While she said that Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has always been interested in dialogue and negotiation, but she did not categorically say that her country would not take military action. The Vice President said Venezuela has never attacked any country or crossed borders to invade or annex territories.

Venezuela’s Agent to the ICJ, Ambassador Samuel Moncada accused Guyana of attempting to “silence the memory of a people who generation after generation” about their national geography.

In the past, Venezuela’s military had chased out seismic research and other vessels operating in waters off the Essequibo Region, a 160,000 square kilometre land area.