On Jan. 27, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed the United States’ “steadfast support” for Guyana’s sovereignty over the Essequibo region, which is disputed by Venezuela.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil responded on Jan. 28, calling Rubio “an enemy of our country” who “continues to show his unhealthy obsession with harming Venezuela.”
Essequibo, a resource-rich strip of land accounting for more than two-thirds of Guyana’s territory, has been controlled and administered by Guyana for more than a century.
Gil said Rubio “seeks to support the fantasies of the Guyanese government, which aims to strip us of the historic rights bequeathed to us by our liberators and which are an inalienable part of our sovereignty.” Addressing Guyanese officials, Gil said their obligations are to “history, international law and regional peace, not to third parties.”
“The only legitimate and valid path to resolving the territorial controversy over the Guayana Essequibo is through compliance with the 1966 Geneva Agreement,” he said.
Gil’s framing of the Essequibo issue is misleading.
An international tribunal of arbitration established the border between Venezuela and Guyana in 1899, giving British Guiana — present day Guyana — sovereignty over Essequibo.
Since Guyana’s independence from Britain in 1966, a U.N.-backed treaty has required its lingering territorial disputes with Venezuela to be resolved via international bodies.
After the two sides failed to reach an agreement in 2018, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres chose the International Court of Justice, or ICJ, — the only international court that adjudicates general disputes between nations — to settle the controversy.
The nations have since chosen different paths to resolve their differences: Guyana has adhered to U.N. guidelines while Venezuela has proceeded with a series of moves violating its obligations under international law.
In December 2020, the ICJ agreed to take up Guyana’s case to confirm validity of the 1899 statute. But Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly disputed the court’s jurisdiction on the matter.
Venezuela continues to oppose ICJ jurisdiction and has threatened extra-legal solutions to settle the dispute. A December 2023 popular referendum on whether to incorporate Essequibo into Venezeulan territory was deemed illegal by the Organization of American States.
Days before the referendum, the ICJ called on Venezuela not to take any actions that are “intended to prepare or allow the exercise of sovereignty or de facto control over any territory that was awarded to British Guiana in the 1899 Arbitral Award.”
On Dec. 5, 2023, Maduro ordered the creation of a new Venezuelan state called “Guayana Esequiba” and publicized a new map with Essequibo shown as part of the country.
Maduro also announced Venezuela would “immediately” begin exploring and exploiting Essequibo’s natural resources, including oil and gas, and issued an order to create subsidiaries of state firms to that end.
Ten days later, on Dec. 15, 2023, Venezuela and Guyana agreed they would not issue threats or use force to settle the dispute. Venezuela, however, has since bulked up its military presence along the disputed border.
In March 2024, the Venezuelan National Assembly passed a law recognizing Essequibo as a Venezuelan state, although Venezuela’s Supreme Court must rule on the constitutionality of that law before it can go into effect.
Analysts have suggested that Maduro used the Essequibo issue to drum up popular support in the run up to the July 2024 election, which the opposition credibly says he stole.
Last month, Venezuela completed construction of a bridge linking its mainland to the eastern side of Ankoko Island, a parcel of the Essequibo region that Caracas has controlled since 1966.
According to The Associated Press, the bridge connects Venezuela to a small military base that Guyana says Venezuela built illegally on Guyana’s side of the island.
