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Delcy Rodríguez, acting president of Venezuela, arrived in the Netherlands this Sunday to lead the Venezuelan delegation at the public hearings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the territorial dispute with Guyana over the Esequibo region, with the final session taking place this Monday in The Hague.
Rodríguez landed at Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport, where she was welcomed by the chancellor Yván Gil and the Minister of Communication, Miguel Ángel Pérez Pirela, who are part of the delegation along with the legal team led by lawyer José Manuel Rodríguez.
"In the name of the Venezuelan people, we have arrived in the Netherlands to defend the majesty and strength of the Geneva Agreement of 1966. There is no doubt that the sole holder of the Essequibo region is Venezuela, and we will always uphold its legitimate and historical rights over this territory," Rodríguez wrote on Telegram.
In a statement from the Venezuelan presidency reported by Reuters, Rodríguez was more forceful: "Venezuela will vigorously defend its sovereignty over the Esequibo, a region that is historically and legally ours. This court has no jurisdiction, but we are here to expose the colonialist plot orchestrated by Guyana and its imperial sponsors."
The trip has an additional political dimension: it is the first major appearance of Rodríguez on the international stage since she assumed the interim presidency of Venezuela on January 5, 2026, following the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces.
Maduro was arrested on January 3, 2026, as part of the so-called Operation Absolute Resolution and transferred to the United States to face charges of narco-terrorism, leaving Rodríguez in charge of the Chavista government.
The dispute centers on the validity of the Paris Arbitral Award of October 3, 1899, which established the border between what was then British Guiana and Venezuela. Caracas declared that ruling null in 1962, citing irregularities, and maintains that the only valid legal instrument is the Geneva Agreement of 1966, which provides for a direct bilateral negotiation pathway.
Guyana filed a lawsuit against Venezuela before the ICJ in 2018, and the court declared the case admissible on April 6, 2023. In December of that year, the ICJ issued provisional measures ordering Venezuela not to alter the status quo in the Esequibo; Caracas rejected them as non-binding.
The Chancellor Yván Gil described the final arguments of Guyana before the ICJ last Friday as "denialist and repetitive" and reiterated that the dispute will end with a direct negotiation without third-party intervention.
From the Guyanese side, Chancellor Hugh Todd responded that "the ICJ process is the only peaceful way forward" and warned that "Venezuela's aggressive stance threatens regional stability."
The disputed territory, encompassing approximately 160,000 square kilometers, represents about two-thirds of the current territory of Guyana and is rich in oil, minerals, and biodiversity. Since ExxonMobil's discoveries in 2015, the economic stakes have skyrocketed: Guyana currently produces around 916,000 barrels of oil per day in the Stabroek block and recorded record revenues of over 761 million dollars in the first quarter of 2026.
Tensions surrounding Esequibo escalated in August 2025, when Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, declared that she would grant access to her territory to the United States if Washington requested it to defend Guyana, and France deployed military forces in the Caribbean within the same context.
Analysts warn that a final ruling from the ICJ could take years, making today’s hearing another step in a process that is shaping up to be one of the most protracted territorial disputes on the continent.
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