Maduro defies ICJ - orders ‘immediate’ exploitation of oil, gas and mines in Guyana’s Essequibo

Venezuela has defied Friday’s orders from the  International Court of Justice not to seize the Guyana's Essequibo region, with President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday directing the country’s state-owned companies to “immediately” begin to explore and exploit the oil, gas and mines in Guyana’s Essequibo region, that Venezuela now claims as its own.

Maduro's orders come a day after Sunday’s  referendum on whether to claim sovereignty over the region which according to the opposition, saw a turnout of 2,110,864 voters out of 20.69 million citizens, an abstention of over 89 percent.

On Tuesday, Maduro produced a redrawn map of Venezuela that now includes the Essequibo region. He also ordered the creation of new entities to grant licences for oil, gas and mines exploration in the Essequibo region; he proposed the creation of a new law to establish new environmentally protected areas that could be centres for tourism and biodiversity. 

Maduro announced that foreign companies working in the disputed Guyanese county of Essequibo would have to withdraw within three months, asserting his right to do so after Venezuelan voters backed their nation’s control of the territory in a referendum Sunday, Bloomberg reported Tuesday night.

Guyana has insisted that the Essequibo is within its borders, and the matter is currently in front of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), though Maduro has said he doesn’t recognize its jurisdiction.

“I propose a special law to prohibit all companies that work under Guyana concessions from any transaction,” Maduro said. “They have three months to withdraw” once his proposal is approved, he said.

In addition to the announcement regarding the exploitation of resources in Essequibo, Maduro announced Tuesday the creation of a new Comprehensive Defense Operational Zone, Zodi in Spanish, for the disputed strip, similar to the special military commands that conduct operations in different regions of the country.

Meanwhile, In response, Guyana's President Irfaan Ali said Guyana views this as an “imminent threat” to territorial integrity, noting that none of these actions will be accepted by the international community and assured Guyanese that the government will do all it can to protect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“To my fellow Guyanese, we are here to ensure the safety of this country, the territory of this country, the sovereignty of this country and to protect every citizen,” President Ali said.

He described Maduro’s recent declarations as “desperate actions” and advised against doing anything that would interfere with the peace and stability of the region.

“They have literally declared themselves an outlaw nation but nothing that they do will stop Guyana from pursuing the case (before) the International Court of Justice.

“We will not allow our territory to be violated nor our territory will be violated,” President Ali declared.

He also added, “Let me be very clear: President Maduro’s actions are an open defiance of the ICJ order. In my opinion, he is testing the mettle of the ICJ.

“Reckless actions can only bring instability to this region and can only create more uncertain standards for the Venezuelan people.”

The ICJ, which is presiding over the substantive border case, ruled last Friday that Venezuela shall refrain from seeking to seize control of the Essequibo.

The 61,600-square-mile (159,500-square-kilometer) area accounts for two-thirds of Guyana. Yet, Venezuela has always considered Essequibo as its own because the region was within its boundaries during the Spanish colonial period.

The boundary between Guyana and Venezuela was determined by an arbitration tribunal 124 years ago, but Venezuela rejected the award in 1962, saying it was flawed. A mechanism was set up to solve the controversy and after decades of talks failed, the United Nations Secretary General referred the matter to the ICJ, which is the UN’s principal judicial organ.

The court has determined it can hear and decide on the case, but Venezuela put forward the symbolic referendum before the Court can rule.

Guyana sought protection and that’s where the Court ruled Friday that the Essequibo has been recognised as Guyanese territory and has been governed by Guyana since the 1899 award and Venezuela should refrain from interrupting Guyanese sovereignty of the territory.

Venezuela still went ahead with its referendum although there are regional and international reports that there was low voter turnout.

 Venezuela’s commitment to pursue the territorial claim has fluctuated over the years. Its interest piqued again in 2015 when ExxonMobil announced it had found oil in commercial quantities off the Essequibo coast.

Guyana has denounced Venezuela’s actions and Sunday’s referendum as pretext to annex the land. 

It had appealed to the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ top court, which on Friday ordered Venezuela not to take any action to change the status quo until the panel can rule on the two countries’ competing claims, which could take years.