Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez took her country’s territorial claim over Guyana to the United Nations on Wednesday, September 23, wearing a brooch depicting the Essequibo region as part of Venezuela while calling for renewed negotiations with Georgetown.
Rodríguez made the appeal during her address to the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) prepares to deliver its ruling on the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award that established the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela.
The brooch featured a map of Venezuela incorporating Essequibo, a resource-rich region accounting for approximately two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. The region has remained under Guyanese administration, but Venezuela continues to claim sovereignty over it.
Rodríguez devoted part of her address to reaffirming Venezuela’s position, arguing that the controversy should be settled through direct negotiations rather than a decision by an international institution.
“I cannot fail to mention in this space, the seat of international law, our reaffirmation of Venezuela’s historic rights over Guayana Esequiba and the call for the Cooperative Republic of Guyana to resolve the issue and return to negotiations, as mandated by the Geneva Agreement,” she said, according to a translation of her address.
“The agreements that endure the longest are those that come from bilateral negotiations, rather than external bodies.”
Her remarks come four months after Guyana and Venezuela completed their final oral arguments before the ICJ in The Hague.
The hearings took place from May 4 to 11, with both countries presenting their positions on the question of the validity and binding effect of the October 3, 1899 Arbitral Award.
Georgetown maintains that the award definitively settled its boundary with Venezuela. Caracas rejects the award and maintains that the matter requires a negotiated settlement. Following the hearings, Guyana’s Attorney General Anil Nandlall said the government expected the court to deliver its ruling by January 2027.
Guyana has repeatedly affirmed its commitment to accepting the court’s decision, while Venezuela has challenged the ICJ’s authority to settle the controversy.
The territorial claim also carries economic implications for Guyana, where offshore petroleum development has transformed the country into a major oil producer.
During the May hearings, Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd told the ICJ that Venezuela’s territorial claims and military activities had slowed investment and threatened development.
He said the situation had affected investor confidence and created uncertainty for economic activity in the country.
“Guyana has suffered, and continues to suffer, from Venezuela’s unlawful claim and threats over most of our territory,” Todd told the court.
Rodríguez’s UN appearance also came during a period of expanding energy cooperation between Venezuela and the United States.
Her administration has pursued agreements with Washington to attract investment and rebuild Venezuela’s petroleum industry following the removal of Nicolás Maduro in January.
During her address, Rodríguez thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for efforts to restore bilateral relations and highlighted the countries’ new energy cooperation agreement.