GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — The Guyana government Friday said it has taken note of the “unfortunate reaction” of the Venezuelan government to the order issued on Thursday by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that called on the South American country to refrain from conducting or preparing to conduct elections in Guyana’s Essequibo region.

On Friday, Caracas in a statement said, “Nothing in international law allows the International Court of Justice to interfere in matters that are the exclusive domain of Venezuelan domestic law, nor to seek to prohibit a sovereign act.”

The Nicolas Maduro government, however, said the Essequibo “is an inalienable part of the Venezuelan territory and a legacy of our liberators”.

“Its defence is a historical, constitutional and moral mandate that unites the entire Bolivarian homeland. No international pressure, judicial blackmail or foreign tribunal will make us back down from this conviction.”

The ICJ, which is hearing the decades-old border dispute between the two countries, on Thursday unanimously reaffirmed provisional measures granted in December 2023 as part of the substantive case before the ICJ regarding the Arbitral Award of October 3, 1899.

On Thursday, the court said, “Pending a final decision in the case, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela shall refrain from conducting elections or preparing to conduct elections in the territory in dispute, which the Cooperative Republic of Guyana currently administers and over which it exercises control.”

READ: World court tells Venezuela to refrain from conducting elections in Essequibo region
Venezuela had announced its intentions to hold elections in Guyana’s Essequibo on May 25 for a governor and other officials. Essequibo is an oil-rich region that makes up about two-thirds of Guyana and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. It is also located close to massive offshore oil deposits, with current production averaging some 650,000 barrels per day.

In its latest statement, Georgetown said it “expects that the Government of Venezuela will act responsibly in complying with the court’s orders of both 1 December 2023 and 1 May 2025, which are legally binding on both states, and in so complying, fully respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana”.

“The Government of Guyana further wishes to remind the Government of Venezuela that it has no intention of entering into bilateral negotiations with Venezuela regarding Venezuela’s claim of nullity of the 1899 Arbitral Award and by extension, its claim to almost two-thirds of Guyana’s territory,” it said.