Caracas marks two years since vote on defending disputed territory as tensions with Guyana persist.
On Wednesday, Venezuela reiterated that it will defend its rights over the Essequibo, a territory of about 160,000 square kilometers rich in oil deposits and natural resources.
“Today marks two years since the historic and overwhelming ‘Yes’ victory in the consultative referendum for the defense of Guayana Esequiba, which strengthens our sovereignty over a territory that has historically belonged to Venezuela,” Bolivarian Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil said.
“On this second anniversary, we reaffirm our defense of Venezuela’s territorial integrity, including Guayana Esequiba, represented by the eighth star on our national flag,” he added.
“We also reiterate our commitment to the 1966 Geneva Agreement, the only mechanism in force to resolve the territorial dispute in a sovereign and negotiated manner,” the Venezuelan diplomat said.
The text reads, “Today marks two years since the historic consultative referendum in defense of the Essequibo region, where over 95% of Venezuelan voters supported the struggle to recover this territory, which was illegally usurped by imperialist powers and which is historically part of Venezuela. Currently, the sovereignty of the Essequibo region continues to be violated by corporations serving imperialist nations that are attempting to perpetuate the colonization of our America.”
For more than a century, Venezuela and Guyana have maintained a territorial dispute over the Essequibo stemming from the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award, which Venezuela argues is null and void because it was based on maps altered by Great Britain, coercion of the judges and the improper application of international law.
Decades later, Venezuela signed the 1966 Geneva Agreement with the United Kingdom to settle the border issue. The document recognizes Venezuela’s claim and states that the Essequibo dispute must be resolved through political and practical negotiations without resorting to judicial mechanisms.
Despite this, in its effort to claim rights over the Essequibo, the Guyanese government continues to rely on the 1899 arbitral award and maintains a case against Venezuela before the International Court of Justice, a body whose jurisdiction in this matter has not been recognized by the Bolivarian nation.
In May 2025, millions of Venezuelans held regional and parliamentary elections and selected a governor for Guayana Esequiba, its twenty-fourth state.
In response to the U.S. intervention in the Caribbean, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez denounced the appropriation by the United States and the United Kingdom of a resource-rich territory in cooperation with Guyana. #IllegalActions #Caribbean #Guyana #teleSUR pic.twitter.com/2I0hjErefV— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) October 4, 2025
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: EFE – teleSUR
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