guyana rejected this Tuesday Venezuelan argument about what great Britain is an important part of the case about validity Award from the Court of Arbitration in 1899in the context of territorial disputes that are defended by the two countries over the territory essequibo.

The government of Guyana, a former British colony, reported in a statement that it had requested International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, which focuses on the validity of decisions and the behavior of judges in resolving the conflict.

This is what Guyana said after the executive vice president of Nicolás Maduro’s government, Delcy Rodríguez, said last Thursday that great Britain “He had to show his face” for the “grab” of Essequibo territory.

Britain in the midst of conflict

Rodríguez asserts that the 1899 arbitral award, which Guyana seeks to validate, was adopted when this country “did not even exist as a Republic”, since it was then a British colony.

However, Philippe Sands, professor of international law at London College University in Guyana, told the court that Venezuela had not presented any evidence that any judge had committed deceitful demarcation of the borders, by defending the position of the Guyanese.

“Venezuela’s concern is to prove that one or more judges had inappropriate contact with one of the lawyers, and that this influenced the award. But, Venezuela has not presented any evidence to support that argument,” Sands said.

What Venezuela is asking for in the dispute over Essequibo

Venezuela states that The ICJ has no jurisdiction to hear Guyana’s position but, having determined the court to do so, presented arguments asking the court to rule that it could not hear the evidence because Britain was not a party to the proceedings.

Given this, Sands said that the ICJ’s only role was to focus on the validity of the award, which “activated the behavior of the judges”.

“If you find no omissions, the message is clear: the award is legit,” said Sands.

In March 2018, Guyana filed a lawsuit against Venezuela with the ICJ to resolve a territorial dispute between the two countries over Essequibo.

At that time, Guyana reaffirmed legal avenues as a way to reach agreement with Venezuela over a historic dispute covering 160,000 square kilometers west of the Essequibo River, by submitting its demands to the ICJ in writing.

Venezuela retains claim to the territory, about 70% of Guyana’s territory, including the country’s offshore oil reserves, arguing that the 1899 treaty is null and void.

Britain and Venezuela signed the Geneva Agreement in 1966, just before Guyana’s independence, which initially laid the groundwork for resolving the dispute, but negotiations dragged on for more than two decades without results.