Esequibo: Venezuela announced it will not participate to proceedings at International Court of Justice (ICJ)

Esequibo: Venezuela announced it will not participate to proceedings at International Court of Justice (ICJ)


Last June 18th, Venezuela announced it will not participate to the proceedings instituted by Guyana last March 2018 at the ICJ concerning Esequibo dispute (see official communiqué issued by Venezuela). The text of the request presented to ICJ by Guyana last March 29th is available here.

It is one of the oldest unresolved territorial dispute in Latinamerica region, that we have had the opportunity to analyze (see our note in Spanish published in DIPúblico entitled "Guyana presenta demanda contra Venezuela ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia (CIJ)"), in which we wrote that: "Dicha presión proviene en gran parte de Estados Unidos: como es sabido, el que fuera el jefe de la diplomacia norteamericana designado por el Presidente Donald Trump (Rex Tillerson) fue Director Ejecutivo de Exxon Mobile del 2006 al 2016. En junio del 2016, Guyana suscribió un importante contrato con la filial de Exxon Mobile, Esso (véase texto completo del contrato) /The pressure came from United States: as known, former US Secretary of State (Rex Tillerson) has been CEO of Exxon Mobile from 2006 to 2016. In June 2016, Guyana signed an important contract with a subsidiary of Exxon Mobile, Esso (see full text of the contract)".

This decision has probably been taken by Venezuela after reviewing different options (and risks). The fact that Venezuela has never recognized the jurisdiction of ICJ nor ratified the Pacto de Bogotá of 1948 is considered sufficient by Venezuela to defend a very basic principle in international law: the previous consent of a State to international justice.

The Venezuela´s strategy of non participation to ICJ proceedings means that Venezuela will not have the possibility to present its legal arguments during a preliminary procedure usually opened by States at The Hague when the respondent State considers that ICJ has no jurisdiction: the phase of preliminary objections.