Venezuela invokes principle of legal equality of States in view of the outrageous summons of the ICJ on the Essequibo case

On December 18th, 2020, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced its decision to consider itself competent to hear the unilateral claim filed by the Cooperative Republic of Guayana regarding the Arbitration Award of October 3rd, 1899 and the issue related to the definitive solution of the territorial border between the Cooperative Republic of Guayana and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. As the international community is aware, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has stated that this award is not in accordance with the law, inasmuch as the arguments put forward by the Court to support its decision are not only insufficient to establish the consent of the Parties, but also contravene the Court Statute and its historical practice and, at the request of Guyana, err in the identification of the object in dispute, accepting to know about the validity of the 1899 arbitration award, thus misrepresenting the provision of the Geneva Agreement. The International Court of Justice, disregarding what has been expressed by Venezuela, has insisted on proposing to hold a videoconference with «the Parties», on January 25th, 2021. Venezuela desires to reiterate once again that it considers this to be a hasty meeting, which does not provide the country with the necessary time to carry out the considerations and consultations that the Venezuelan State demands, before assuming a position on an issue of vital importance. Venezuela has been requesting the Court for weeks that the videoconference be postponed until April 2021, and that it be held in a face-to-face format. Today, we reiterate once again this legitimate demand. The disregard of the compelling reasons that lead Venezuela to demand attention to its request could be considered a bad omen in view of the due guaranteed that must be provided for the preservation of the rights of both Parties, in accordance with their Statute and the principle of legal equality of States, as established in the Charter of the United Nations. The sun of Venezuela raises from the Esequibo

Caracas, January 21st, 2021

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