CARACAS, Venezuela (CMC) — Venezuela has brushed aside concerned raised by Guyana and the wider Caribbean Community (Caricom) over a brooch that Acting President Delcy Rodriquez wore when she held talks with Barbados and Grenada leaders earlier this month.

The 15-member Caricom grouping said Tuesday it had taken note of recent official engagements within the community during which material asserting Venezuela’s claim to Guyana’s Essequibo region had been on public display.

READ: Caricom reiterates support for Guyana in border dispute with Venezuela

Guyana’s President Dr Irfaan Ali, had earlier expressed his “grave concern” over the public display of the brooch won by Rodriquez, showing her country’s map that includes Guyana’s Essequibo Region as she held talks with two Caricom leaders this month.

In a letter sent to Caricom Chairman, Prime Minister Dr Terrance Drew, the Guyanese leader said that, “Guyana fully respects the sovereign right of Caricom member states to conduct bilateral relations with all partners, including the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

“However, it is deeply regrettable that such engagements have been accompanied by the prominent display of symbols asserting Venezuela’s claim to Guyana’s territory,” Ali wrote in his April 28, 2028 letter to Drew, who is also the prime minister of St Kitts and Nevis.

READ: Senior Guyanese minister objects to brooch worn by Venezuela’s acting president

But as she addressed an anti-sanctions rally at the Municipal Theatre of Valencia in the Venezuelan state of Carabobo, Rodriquez said that Caracas will continue to uphold its claim to the ownership of the disputed Essequibo region in Guyana.

“We will soon be at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the coming days to reaffirm our historic position, which is international law and respect for the Geneva Agreement. It is outrageous when Venezuela is attacked, and that is why we are undertaking this entire process of spiritual revitalisation for the good of our nation,” she said.

“You know that the President of Guyana is now causing a scandal because I always wear the pin with the map of Venezuela. The only map I have ever known. Now they are even bothered by how I dress.”

Foreign Minister Yván Gil said that Venezuela’s territorial sovereignty cannot be erased with letters or what he described as the “improvised shows” of President Ali regarding the Essequibo region.

He described as “unprecedented” Ali’s attempt to question even the clothing of other heads of state.

“The garment that obsesses him today is nothing more than the expression of a historical truth, strongly validated since the 1966 Geneva Agreement,” Gil said, adding that Guyana’s stance reflects a “desperate tone” and an “erratic manoeuvre” to evade responsibility.

President of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, also defended Venezuela’s claims and in a post on X wrote, “We maintain an incontrovertible position on our Guayana Esequiba. It is a historical, legal and moral right; it belongs to all Venezuelan women and men. Our response remains one of peace diplomacy, but with the firmness of a people that does not renounce its sovereignty.”

Guyana brought the case before the ICJ in 2018, seeking affirmation that the 1899 Arbitral Award, establishing the boundary between the two countries, is legally valid. The award had been accepted for over 60 years before Venezuela declared it null in 1962 and revived its claim to the territory.

The matter is being addressed under the 1966 Geneva Agreement, which outlines mechanisms for a peaceful settlement. After bilateral efforts failed, the dispute was referred to the ICJ by the United Nations Secretary-General.

The court has already ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear the case, paving the way for hearings on the merits, during which both sides will present full legal arguments.