Guyana – Venezuela Border Dispute World Court Ruling
The longstanding border dispute between Guyana and Venezuela may persist even following the anticipated judgement from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) later this year, as articulated by St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves on Wednesday.
Gonsalves remarked on Wednesday that he is not fully informed regarding the developments in the litigation, acknowledging that the International Court of Justice will require a considerable amount of time to compose its judgement.
Guyana brought the case in 2018, seeking a final judgement by the court settling the controversy peacefully, finally, and in accordance with international law. The written phase of the case will conclude in August 2025, to be followed by oral hearings. The court’s judgement, which will be legally binding on both parties, is expected in 2026.
The case has become even more critical in the last year. Between January and April 2024, Venezuela issued decrees and laws purporting to annex and incorporate into Venezuela Guyana’s entire Essequibo Region, which borders Venezuela and constitutes nearly 70% of Guyana’s national territory. This was done in blatant defiance of international law and the Court’s Order, issued on 1 December 2023, that pending a final decision in the case, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela shall refrain from taking any action that would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute, whereby the Co-operative Republic of Guyana administers and exercises control over that area.
Gonsalves articulated that Guyana and Venezuela possess fundamentally divergent perspectives on the issue, emphasising that the role of the Argyle mechanism is to ensure tranquilly and prevent any form of provocation.
“I saw the US State Department issued a press release. You saw that the OAS issued a press release. The Secretariat of the Commonwealth in London issued a press release. I know that President Ali had been in contact with various allies. Naturally, the United States would have been very deeply involved because it’s a US company, Exxon, and there are US workers there, along with other workers. You have to have peace, he said, noting the tense situation that existed. Anything can happen, and matters can spiral completely out of control, and the next thing you know, there’s a conflagration, military operations, and what have you, and so on and so forth. You don’t need an imagination to know who that will go. so that and this mechanism have worked with, and of course, letters are flying hither and thither. We still have to meet to have this matter thrashed out so that we don’t have a repetition of this. It’s not the first time since Argyle that matters have had to be muted by us, and I’m referred to as a principal interlocutor,” Gonsalves stated.
According to the ICJ, on January 7, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela announced, in open disregard of the Court’s Order, that Venezuela will conduct elections in Guyana’s Essequibo Region—which Venezuela has renamed “Guayana Esequiba”—for” the election of a governor and legislative council “by the people of Guayana Esequiba.”
Further statements were made by President Maduro and the National Electoral Council announcing the date of the proposed elections—April 27, 2025. On February 5, 2025, President Maduro again announced, “We will hold elections in 24 states, and for the first time, we will elect a governor for the state of Guayana Esequba, along with a legislative council and deputies.”