Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez is travelling to The Hague to represent her country in the long-running territorial dispute with Guyana over the oil-rich Essequibo region, marking her first official trip outside the Caribbean since Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in January.
Rodríguez announced the trip in a televised address on Saturday, saying it had “fallen to me to travel in the coming hours to defend our homeland.” The International Court of Justice is hearing arguments in the case, which centers on whether an 1899 arbitral award that fixed the border between Venezuela and then-British Guiana remains valid. Guyana says the award legally settled the dispute, while Venezuela argues the boundary should be reconsidered under the 1966 Geneva Agreement.
The Essequibo region covers about two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and has become even more strategically important since major offshore oil discoveries by ExxonMobil and its partners transformed Guyana into one of the world’s fastest-growing oil producers. The dispute has intensified in recent years as Venezuela has revived its claim and challenged the ICJ’s authority to decide the matter.
Rodríguez became Venezuela’s acting leader after Maduro was detained by U.S. forces and taken to the United States to face trial. Her appearance in The Hague is politically significant because she had long been under U.S. sanctions, though those restrictions were lifted after she assumed the acting presidency. Officials attending proceedings before the ICJ are also typically covered by diplomatic and legal protections linked to court proceedings.
The trip comes as Rodríguez tries to balance competing pressures at home and abroad. Since taking over, she has sought to preserve continuity with Maduro’s Chavismo movement while also complying with several U.S. demands, including releasing political prisoners, ending oil deliveries to Cuba and opening parts of Venezuela’s state oil sector to foreign investment.
The ICJ case remains one of the most sensitive issues in Venezuelan politics. For Caracas, Essequibo is portrayed as a historic national claim. For Georgetown, the territory is sovereign Guyanese land and central to the country’s future economic development.
Rodríguez’s presence in The Hague signals that Venezuela intends to contest the case directly, even as it continues to dispute the court’s jurisdiction.
