Calling the referendum which Venezuela intends to hold on December 3rd, over its claim to Essequibo, an “existential threat ” to its sovereignty and territorial integrity, Guyana yesterday argued at the ICJ in the Hague that Caracas was seeking to evade the jurisdiction of the court and its acts of aggression are intended to lay the path for annexation.
This was the common and repeated theme of the arguments presented by Guyana yesterday before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is currently hearing an application from this country for urgent provisional measures in the wake of Venezuela’s pending referendum.
On October 31st, Guyana asked the World Court to schedule urgent oral hearings on its request in advance of the date Venezuela has fixed for what Guyana describes as a “sham referendum.”