Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez has firmly rejected recent remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump suggesting that Venezuela could become the 51st American state. Speaking to journalists on Monday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Rodríguez asserted that Venezuela has no intention of relinquishing its sovereignty.
Rodríguez Defends Venezuelan Sovereignty
“We will continue to defend our integrity, our sovereignty, our independence, our history,” Rodríguez stated. She emphasized that Venezuela is “not a colony, but a free country.” Her comments came after Trump told Fox News earlier that day that he was “seriously considering making Venezuela the 51st US state,” according to a social media post by Fox News co-anchor John Roberts. The White House has not yet responded to requests for comment on the matter.
Trump has previously made similar remarks about Canada. Rodríguez noted that Venezuelan and U.S. officials have been in contact and are working towards “cooperation and understanding.”
Territorial Dispute at the ICJ
Before addressing Trump's comments, Rodríguez defended Venezuela's claim to the Essequibo region at the ICJ. She argued that political negotiations, not a judicial ruling, should resolve the century-old territorial dispute with neighboring Guyana. The 62,000-square-mile territory, which constitutes two-thirds of Guyana, is rich in gold, diamonds, timber, and other natural resources. It also sits near massive offshore oil deposits currently producing an average of 900,000 barrels per day.
This output is close to Venezuela's daily production of about 1 million barrels and has transformed Guyana, one of South America's smallest countries, into a significant energy producer.
Historical Context
Venezuela has considered Essequibo its own since the Spanish colonial period, when the jungle region fell within its boundaries. However, an 1899 decision by arbitrators from Britain, Russia, and the United States drew the border along the Essequibo River largely in favor of Guyana. Venezuela argues that a 1966 agreement sealed in Geneva to resolve the dispute effectively nullified the 19th-century arbitration.
In 2018, three years after ExxonMobil announced a significant oil discovery off the Essequibo coast, Guyana's government approached the ICJ, asking judges to uphold the 1899 ruling. Tensions escalated in 2023 when Rodríguez's predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, threatened to annex the region by force after holding a referendum on whether Essequibo should become a Venezuelan state. Maduro was captured on January 3 during a U.S. military operation in Caracas and taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges; he has pleaded not guilty.
Rodríguez Criticizes Guyana's Approach
Rodríguez did not address the referendum in her remarks but told the court that the 1966 agreement is designed to allow negotiations between Venezuela and Guyana to resolve the dispute. She accused Guyana's government of undermining the agreement with the “opportunistic” decision to seek judicial resolution.
“At a time when the mechanisms established in the Geneva agreement were still fully in force, Guyana unilaterally chose to shift the dispute from the negotiating arena to a judicial resolution,” she said. “This change was not accidental; it coincided with the discovery in 2015 of the oil field that would become world-renowned.”
When hearings opened last week, Guyana's Foreign Minister Hugh Hilton Todd told the panel of international judges that the dispute “has been a blight on our existence as a sovereign state from the very beginning.” He noted that 70% of Guyana's territory is at stake. The court is expected to take months to issue a final and legally binding ruling in the case. Venezuela has warned that its participation in the hearings does not imply consent to or recognition of the court's jurisdiction.
