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CARICOM Urges Peace After ICJ Order In Guyana-Venezuela Border Dispute

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has demanded respect for the Caribbean as a zone of peace after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday warned Venezuela against any action that would change Guyana’s control over a disputed territory.

Venezuela claims the resource-rich Essequibo region of Guyana, comprising more than two-thirds of its neighbour’s territory.

The ICJ ruling occurred ahead of Venezuela’s December 3 referendum on whether Caracas should create a new “state” in Essequibo.

Guyana claims the referendum could trigger Venezuela’s seizure of the disputed region.

CARICOM expected Venezuela to uphold the ICJ’s December 1, 2023 Order.

A CARICOM statement on the issue appears below:

The International Court of Justice has today, 1 December 2023, ordered Venezuela not to take any action to challenge, disrupt or interfere with Guyana’s longstanding control and administration of the Essequibo Region, which constitutes more than two-thirds of Guyana’s land territory, until the Court has issued its final Judgment on which State enjoys sovereignty over that territory.

Specifically, the Court ordered that “the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela shall refrain from taking any action which would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute, whereby the Cooperative Republic of Guyana administers and exercises control over that area.”

The Order was adopted unanimously by all the sitting Judges.

The Court’s Order was issued in response to Guyana’s Request for Provisional Measures, which was prompted by a national referendum that Venezuela has scheduled for Sunday, December 3, in which the people are asked to approve Venezuela’s annexation of the Essequibo Region and incorporation of it into the Venezuelan State. The Court’s Order prohibits Venezuela from taking such a measure, or any other measure that would change the status quo in the territory, regardless of the outcome of the Venezuelan referendum on Sunday.

The Court’s Order reinforces the fundamental principle of international law, enshrined in the UN and OAS Charters, that every State has the duty to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of others. The Order makes clear that holding a national referendum does not exempt a State from its obligation to comply with this duty.

Venezuela cannot by a referendum, or otherwise, violate international law and disregard the Order of the world’s highest Court.

CARICOM expects Venezuela to uphold the ICJ’s Order of 1 December 2023.  It also insists that Venezuela complies with international law in all respects, and the Charter of the United Nations, and, in this connection, calls on it to take no actions in violation of them. 

CARICOM reminds that the Venezuela-Guyana controversy is properly before the ICJ by the decision of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for ‘final settlement’, pursuant to the provisions of the 1966 Geneva Agreement to which both Venezuela and Guyana are bound. CARICOM demands that Venezuela pursue its claims within the law and the legal process. 

Further, CARICOM demands that the Caribbean be respected as a Zone of Peace and that nothing should be done to disrupt the tranquility of the Region, which is essential to the economic prosperity and social well-being of all countries of CARICOM and Latin America.

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10 COMMENTS

  1. So what happens on December 3rd if they vote to take this land, will they support the results of this vote just like they supported Maduro’s corrupt election results ? All the communist sympathizers are quiet.

  2. Russia Annexes the DONBAS
    Venezuela Annexes the Essequibo region ?
    China Annexes Taiwan ?

    Keep supporting these clowns and then beg NATO to come bail you out.

  3. Left de mun alone what pjp will say by supporting his economic support plus Trinidad… But in all it is just like how Columbus come bus us. Create fear, fake plus bullshit and many believe he was God. Such is life. Take what I say VZ can’t do shit.

  4. There is a funny (not “ha-ha”) story behind this land dispute between Venezuela & Guyana, which the US (really the oligarchs who control it) hope will be erased from public scrutiny. It is not so well hidden in this nimble ruling of lawfare (the last remaining tool of the US empire of lies) by the kangaroo court, ICJ. The promoters of the court’s ruling are hoping that an affliction of mass amnesia has overcome the world, with regards to world affairs, since the Guyana Independence Order of 1966 (hint: this starting date is very, very important).

    Here is a link to the ruling (which the St. Lucia Times, conveniently omitted):
    https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/171/171-20231201-ord-01-00-en.pdf

    Let’s see how many of you still have even two neurons left successfully firing between them, that might find the missing clues!

  5. Regarding the comment, “If you see two fish fighting in water, you can be sure an Englishman passed by five minutes ago”:
    Spot on! It’s the very reason why England is known as “Perfidious Albion”!

    In this instance, it was not 5 minutes ago, but 213 years ago when England set this dispute in motion (see a brief summary here: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/venezuela).
    In probably the first modern case of lawfare (where might makes right & judges are controlled by nation states, which in turn are owned by oligarchs) in 1899, England “unilaterally” settled the border between its then colony, British Guiana and Venezuela, by getting US help to resolve the arbitration process in their favor (in return for supporting the US’ Monroe Doctrine, which began the US assertion of dominance on the world stage).

    The next major milestone of this dispute occurred in 1966, when Venezuela sought to right the historical wrong inflicted on it by England (brief summary here: https://dppa.un.org/en/mission/border-controversy-between-guyana-and-venezuela). This action was not taken for the benefit of ordinary Venezuelans but for local & US oligarchs; its justification was bolstered by the world-wide anti-communist campaign being waged by the US (Burnham was held suspect as a communist & black power sympathizer).

    I will now talk of direct US interest & involvement in the border dispute between Guyana & Venezuela:
    For the 100-year period between 1899 to 1999, the US was busy fighting across the globe, so it did not have to fight in the western hemisphere, where it already wielded total military dominance. It was only concerned with raping the Middle East for its oil; Africa & Asia for their natural resources, in order to develop its industrial might. Regarding Venezuela, its energy corporations controlled the extraction of oil & gas there, just so it did not create a supply glut that would undermine the profits they made from the cheap extraction of Arab oil & gas.

    Then, Chavez was elected president of Venezuela in 1999, and immediately nationalized the energy industry as he had promised the electorate, to return the benefits to all Venezuelans, not just for the oligarchs who had sold off the country’s patrimony, for pennies on the dollar, to US corporations. The whole idea of Chavez using the proceeds from the sale of “their” oil for the benefits of ordinary Venezuelans did not sit well with the (US & Venezuelan) oligarchs; so they commissioned the government & military of the US to fix the Venezuelan problem. And so began the failed attempts to topple Chavez & regain control of “their” energy assets, which inconveniently existed below the topography of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

    In 2016, with US military power plummeting across the globe (Russia & China were putting a stop to US military excursions in support of US corporations), ExxonMobil contracted with the government of Guyana to extract oil in the disputed Essequibo basin; and also promised to fast-track the dispensation of the border dispute in Guyana’s favor via the influence they exerted on the US government & the UN.

    If you read the recent ICMJ ruling, you will see how it was achieved: Simply by claiming that the ICJ had no jurisdiction over the 1966 Geneva agreement, but that it reserved jurisdiction over the 1899 Arbitration. You can’t make this $#!t up! With the US exerting influence on the ICJ (the judges probably were compromised in the Epstein child-sex sting operation) to protect their (via ExxonMobil) oil extraction rights, the US can receive some measure of relief against their plummeting influence on the OPEC+ group & rapidly depleting national reserves, so they can still afford to send surface vessels to protect the on-going genocide of Palestinians by the illegal apartheid state of Israel.

    Every war around the world is connected to US imperialism & the British role as faithful lapdog!

  6. @Oh Really…take heed:
    “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak (type) and to remove all doubt.”

    Oh, but you’ve typed so much $@!t is this forum, that you’ve forever removed all doubt that you’ve suffered from the Kruger-Dunning effect your entire life; and that the only solace left for you is to infect as many people as you can!

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