Delcy Rodríguez arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday to defend Venezuela’s claim to Essequibo, the mineral- and oil-rich region in western Guyana, before the United Nations’ highest court. Her appearance comes as the International Court of Justice in The Hague holds a series of hearings in the border dispute.
The final hearing with Rodríguez is set for Monday, closing a dispute that has stretched back to the end of the 19th century. The case centers on Essequibo, a territory of nearly 62,000 square miles that sits near massive offshore oil deposits and contains gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources. For Guyana, the border was settled long ago; for Venezuela, it never was.
That split goes back to 1899, when arbitrators from Britain, Russia and the United States drew the border along the Essequibo River largely in Guyana’s favor. Venezuela has long said the decision should not stand, arguing that a Geneva agreement signed in 1966 nullified the 19th-century arbitration. Guyana rejects that view and has asked the court to uphold the existing boundary.
The hearing has put one of South America’s longest-running territorial disputes back before judges who will ultimately decide whether the border drawn more than a century ago still holds. The court is expected to take months before issuing a final and legally binding ruling, leaving both countries waiting on a decision that could shape the future of one of the region’s most resource-rich frontiers.
