Guyana sent a request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the body to act on the suspension of a referendum scheduled for December in Venezuela, a period in which the population will be consulted on the annexation of Essequibo, a territory disputed by the two countries for more than a century.
The UN Court issued a statement this Tuesday (31), informing about the receipt of the request. “Guyana has submitted to the Secretariat of the International Court of Justice a request for the indication of provisional measures to request that Venezuela not proceed with the consultative referendum as planned,” the document says.
In the request for interference from the international court, the “urgency of the matter” was requested, so that a hearing could be scheduled before the date established for popular consultation in the neighboring country, governed by dictator Nicolás Maduro, who claims sovereignty over the region.
Shortly after the announcement, the Guyanese government released a statement, stating that the referendum on December 3 is part of a “sinister plan by Venezuela to seize its territory”, given that the portion in dispute by the countries involves 70% of Guyana.
Last week, Caracas’ neighboring country said the referendum indicated a “flagrant violation of the most fundamental norms of the United Nations Charter, the OAS Charter [Organização dos Estados Americanos] and International Law”.
The vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, considered the appeal presented to the ICJ “absurd”.
“It’s an absurd situation, where a country asks an international body to annul a constitutional order. That won’t happen, it’s rude,” he said.
What will be analyzed in the referendum?
On October 20, the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Jorge Rodríguez, announced the referendum in a new attempt to annex the Essequibo region.
The Venezuelan population will be heard if they agree with five measures designed by the Maduro dictatorship. They are: reject the Paris arbitration award of 1899; support the 1966 Geneva Agreement as the only valid legal instrument on the issue; not recognizing the competence of the ICJ to resolve the dispute; oppose the exploitation of the territorial sea in the area by Guyana; and the creation of the Venezuelan state of Guiana Essequiba in the region.
The last question of the referendum clearly exposes the desire to annex the territorial portion. The Venezuelan government proposes the creation of a province in the region and the “nationalization” of its inhabitants.
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