MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela to defend Essequibo case before ICJ

Maduro is in winning mode in the international arena after handshakes in Egypt

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Thursday announced that his administration would resort to The Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) to solve the territorial dispute with Guyana over the Essequibo region.

 Venezuela will defend its historical and legal right over the Essequibo in The Hague,“ Maduro said. Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez traveled to The Netherlands to participate in the hearings.

”The vice-president is in The Hague because she is going to defend Venezuela's right, its historical and legal right over the territory of the Essequibo,“ Maduro explained in a broadcast statement.

”We were welcomed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands in The Hague to participate in the hearings on the preliminary objections presented by Venezuela against Guyana's unilateral claim before the International Court of Justice. The Sun of Venezuela is born in the Essequibo!,“ Rodríguez wrote on Twitter.

Rodriguez has insisted over time that the Geneva Agreement of 1966 was the only legal instrument in force to achieve a solution.

Caracas had filed preliminary objections in June to the unilateral claim of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana before the ICJ. The Venezuelan Government has expressed on several recent and long-standing occasions its total willingness to reach an amicable agreement with Guyana, Caracas argued Tuesday, while stressing the importance of ”a practical and acceptable settlement for the parties.“

Maduro is encouraged by his recent achievements in the arena of foreign relations, after shaking hands with France's President Emmanuel Macron and US Special Climate Envoy John Kerry in Sharm El-Sheikh. ”They don't shake my hand in the world because I look like Bad Bunny, it's because of our rebelliousness,“ he said Tuesday. He also joked that he was a better singer.

”Boys, girls: nobody has given us anything as a gift and nobody will ever give us anything as a gift. Everything we are, everything we have achieved, we earned it with courage, bravery, strength,“ Maduro underlined.

”Why do you think they shake my hand in the world? Because I am cool, because I am pretty, because I look like Bad Bunny? I don't look like Bad Bunny, although I sing better than him. It's because of the people, it's because of history, it's because of our rebelliousness,” Maduro stressed.