MADRID, April 7th. (EUROPEAN PRESS) –

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has vowed to continue his “tireless and decisive struggle” for the territory known as Guayana Esequiba – the part of Guyana that Caracas claims as its own – after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decided to reaffirm its competence to decide on this territory.

“The truth is with us. Essequibo is Venezuela!”, the president declared via his Twitter account, where he also published an official statement rejecting the ICC resolution.

The ICC, in response to a request from Caracas, has this Thursday reaffirmed its jurisdiction to decide the conflict between the two countries, rejecting a request by Venezuela – which considers this legal mechanism invalid to resolve this dispute – to confirm that “Guyana’s claim is unacceptable”.

In its statement, Venezuela has made it clear that it “will thoroughly evaluate the implications (of the Court’s decision) and will adopt all available measures to defend its lawful rights and territorial integrity.”

The dispute in this Court dates back to 2018, when Guyana filed a lawsuit in The Hague against Venezuela for resolving disputes over this territory – which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s entire territory -, while Venezuela has demanded an exception to the claim. that The Hague has no jurisdiction in that situation.

As the Venezuelan statement continues, by 2022 “it demonstrates by strict, robust and abundant documentation, the fraudulent mechanisms used by the United Kingdom (the colonial power controlling the territory of present-day Guyana) to take its territory”, referring to the Geneva Agreement in 1966, in which Caracas and London promised to resolve the dispute through dialogue.

Venezuela celebrated that the Court “explained the existence and validity of the 1966 Geneva Agreements”, stating that it was, and not the ICC, “the only valid instrument for resolving these territorial disputes.”