Border case: Guyana welcomes Venezuela’s filing of rejoinder

The Government of Guyana has welcomed the decision by the Venezuelan government to file its rejoinder in the case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning the 1899 arbitral award that settled the borders between the two countries.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd, in providing an update, explained that the rejoinder brings to a close all required filings in the matter. Oral hearings will now be scheduled, after which the Court will deliberate and issue its final judgment.
Todd noted that the proceedings have gone through four stages of written submissions, and Venezuela’s rejoinder means the Court now has before it the complete set of factual and legal arguments from both parties—allowing for an authoritative and incontestable final decision.
“What this will do now… is allow the Court to deliberate on the submissions. Then we will have the arguments, and the Court will proceed to look at the facts of the case, and then we will have the final judgment that is authoritative and cannot be contested,” he explained.
The minister underscored that, despite decades of Venezuela’s spurious claims to Guyana’s Essequibo, Guyana has consistently adhered to the letter and spirit of the 1966 Geneva Agreement, which was designed to resolve the territorial controversy and specifically address Venezuela’s challenge to the 1899 Arbitral Award involving then British Guiana. He stressed that Guyana has, over the years, exhausted every avenue available under the Geneva Agreement.
Todd reaffirmed that the 1899 arbitral award is “final, perfect, and complete,” noting that Guyana took every step to ensure its boundaries were clearly defined—going back to the work of the mixed commission that demarcated the trijunction involving Venezuela, Brazil, and British Guiana at the time.
“So, everything was clearly defined,” Todd said, adding: “Venezuela was very happy with the award, they were very happy with what they got out of it, they went to the congress, it was well promoted. So, they have enjoyed the award for some 62 years before this spurious claim came about, and they have never been able to show any credible evidence to prove that this award was invalid.”
The case currently before the ICJ seeks to bring a definitive and lasting resolution to the border controversy.