Bogotá, Colombia – While waiting for a loan on the 11th floor of a dusty office in downtown Caracas, a Venezuelan colleague muttered in my ear: “You can’t show me that map. Get rid of it.”
Surprised, I pulled out a map of Venezuela from a stack of papers framing our NGO’s proposed project to provide medical assistance to remote areas of the country. The economic collapse left the country in need of international support, but it was not always receptive. My job was to negotiate access to that remote location.
Later, as my colleague trudged down the gloomy stairs (the elevator didn’t work), I explained the problem. “Every map of Venezuela shown in Venezuela must include the Essequibo.”
Like many newbies in Caracas, I have never heard of Essequibo, a territory claimed by Venezuela even though it is in Guyana. It covers 160,000 square kilometers (62,000 square miles) and has a population of just 125,000, making it five times larger than Belgium but less populous than Bruges.
I was intrigued. And thank you to my colleagues. Dealing with the Venezuelan ministry was tricky enough without provoking an attack by omitting the vast jungle that clung to the eastern border like a lost appendage.
But it is far from helpless.
To the east of Venezuela lies the Essequibo, a vast jungle rich in diamonds and gold, as well as huge oil deposits discovered in coastal waters in 2015.
During his regime, former President Nicolas Maduro, now indicted on drug charges in a U.S. court, laid claim to the Essequibo and put political and military pressure on Guyana to cede the vast territory. This culminated in the declaration of a legal merger in 2023, sparking international condemnation.
In 2024, Maduro went further and proposed issuing identity cards for what he called the Guayana Essequiva, creating a ghost administrative center for the country’s “24th state” and proposing a new governor.
The Venezuelan dictator then sent soldiers to the Cuyeni River, close to the disputed border.
Maybe it’s a bridge too far. In March 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned Venezuela’s move as “an illegal territorial claim by a drug-trafficking regime” and pledged to defend Guyana from Venezuelan incursions.
Any attack on U.S. oil companies exploiting oil reserves off the Essequibo coast would mark “a very bad week for Maduro,” Rubio warned at a news conference in Guyana’s capital, Georgetown. In response, Maduro called the secretary of state “an imbecile.”
As they say, the rest is history. Nine months later, the Venezuelan leader was kidnapped from his Caracas hideout by U.S. special forces and thrown into a New York prison.
Map showing the disputed territory of the Essequibo, which makes up most of Guyana.
rigged arbitration
Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, flew to The Hague last week to replace his predecessor and discuss Venezuela’s claims at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The case was referred by the UN to the ICJ, also known as the ‘world’s highest court’, and was initially charged with untangling the border.
But first, Rodriguez had to deal with another land grab issue. Venezuela was now 51 years old.castle The phrase ‘State’ appears on an American flag-shaped map posted by US President Donald Trump on social media.
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Trump’s ’51st State’ MemeAt the ICJ, journalists were quick to jump on the meme.
“We come to the court to defend our sovereignty and independence.” Rodriguez said, puzzled by the irony. Her former boss Maduro did something similar three years ago by declaring the Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana, “the new nation of Venezuela.”
Over four days, ICJ judges heard oral arguments from both delegations. Although couched in legal jargon, it provided fascinating insights into centuries of colonial great games and arbitrary cartography. The case has been compared to centuries earlier, when Spain, the Netherlands, Britain and even Sweden vied for a foothold in the northern jungles of South America.
Guyana’s position was simple. Guyana, the de facto holder of the Essequibo and under attack by Venezuela, wanted the court to ratify an 1899 International Tribunal ruling, the so-called Paris Arbitration Agreement, that set boundaries in favor of Guyana, then a British colony.
The British argument at the time was that they had a permanent presence in the Essequibo, while Venezuela and the former Spanish colonial administration had very little.
The problem is that Venezuela never accepted the Paris Agreement and claimed it was a backroom deal between London and Washington. for what where The Essequibo would remain a colony in return for local favors.
As they put it at the ICJ last week: “Great Britain, known around the world for its aggressive expansionism, negotiated a rigged arbitration with the United States to retain territory it had taken from Venezuela in return for recognition of American hegemony.”
In some ways, the Paris Agreement was Venezuela’s own problem. After severing diplomatic relations with Britain, the 1899 negotiations were subcontracted to the United States, whose delegation included former U.S. President Benjamin Harrison.
Meanwhile, the United States, eager to relax its Monroe Doctrine, which basically said ‘keep it out of our backyard’, was willing to defend its Caribbean neighbors from Old World empires. Why they rigged the negotiations is a matter of historical debate.
This means that the ICJ judges’ core questions are rooted in the past. Did the American delegation defend Venezuela in good faith, or did they succumb to the machinations of the British Empire? And should they support the Paris Arbitration Agreement?
community not consulted
While much international attention has focused on the oil discoveries in the Essequibo, there is little mention of the indigenous peoples, such as the Lokono and Warao, who lived there long before the arrival of Europeans. At least nine different languages are spoken within the region.
However, Maduro never consulted with the Essequibo community before announcing the annexation of Venezuela in 2023.
Jean La Rose, a Locono woman and director of the Amerindian Association of Guyana (APA), wrote for Mongabay that these communities “have been moving between the Venezuela-Guyana border since time immemorial.”
She said people with roots in the Essequibo consider it part of Guyana and condemned Maduro’s announcement for forcing families to flee their villages under the threat of a military invasion.
“As citizens of Guyana, we stand in solidarity with the Government of Guyana and reject any foreign claim to this land,” La Rose said.
Warao community near the border between Venezuela and Guyana. Indigenous people claim they were not consulted about Venezuela’s move to annex the Essequibo. Photo: S. Hide.
rally to the flag
The court’s final ruling is months away, but most observers say it is highly unlikely that the ICJ will rule on Venezuela.
First, the geographical reality is that the area in question covers two-thirds of Guyana’s territory but adds only a small portion to Venezuela’s much larger territory. Without the Essequibo, Guyana shrinks on the map.
Second, arbitral courts often defer to the territorial status quo and the self-determination rights of residents. There is a saying that ‘possession is nine-tenths of the law.’
In fact, American oil companies are also minting in the Essequibo, creating an economic boom in Guyana itself. So even with a foot in both camps, Washington is unlikely to support Caracas.
A ruling in favor of Venezuela also risks resolving dozens of pending but stable border disputes stemming from colonial-era chicanery. Most Latin American countries have at least one border complaint with one neighbor or another.
Such squabbles usually go on as a useful distraction for a failing state. That’s because leaders routinely reject international arbitration if the results don’t go their way.
In this context, Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, told the court last week that his presence “does not mean in any way an acknowledgment of the ICJ’s authority in territorial disputes.”
Instead, she said an agreement should be reached through direct talks between the two countries to build “a solid and stable foundation for good neighborly relations.”
Considering recent history, that ship has sailed.
For guidance, Rodriguez can take a closer look at Trump’s “51.”castle State” meme. Like mine, his map of Venezuela omits the Essequibo. I doubt Caracas will correct him.
Judges hearing the Essequibo case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague last week. Photo: ICJ.
