Venezuela’s acting president defends territory and rejects Trump’s 51st state remarks
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Venezuela ‘s acting President Delcy Rodriguez journalists advised Monday that his nation had no plans to grow to be the 51st US state after President donald trump He mentioned he was “seriously considering” the transfer.
Rodríguez was talking on the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the ultimate day of hearings in a dispute between her nation and neighboring Guyana over the large mineral- and oil-rich Essequibo region.
“We will continue to defend our integrity, our sovereignty, our independence, our history,” mentioned Rodríguez, who assumed energy in January following a US army operation that you simply then-President Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela is “not a colony, but a free country,” she added.
Speaking to Fox News earlier on Monday, Trump mentioned he was “seriously considering making Venezuela the 51st US state,” according to a post by Fox News’ co-anchor John Roberts on social media. The White House didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the matter.
trump have made similar comments about Canada.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly later declined to touch upon Trump’s plans in an interview of her personal with Roberts on Fox News. Kelly mentioned the president is “famous for never accepting the status quo,” and praised Rodríguez for “working incredibly cooperatively” with the US
Rodríguez went on to say that Venezuelan and US officers have been in contact and are engaged on “cooperation and understanding.”
Before addressing Trump’s feedback, Rodríguez defended her nation’s declare to Essequibo on the United Nations’ highest courtroom, telling judges that political negotiations — not a judicial ruling — will resolve the century-old territorial dispute.
The 62,000-square-mile territory, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana, is wealthy in gold, diamonds, timber and different pure sources. It additionally sits close to massive offshore oil deposits at present producing a median 900,000 barrels a day.
That output is near Venezuela’s each day manufacturing of about 1 million barrels a day and has reworked one of many smallest nations in South America into a major vitality producer.
Venezuela has thought of Essequibo its personal because the Spanish colonial interval, when the jungle area fell inside its boundaries. But an 1899 resolution by arbitrators from Britain, Russia and the United States drew the border alongside the Essequibo River largely in favor of Guyana.
Venezuela has argued {that a} 1966 settlement sealed in Geneva to resolve the dispute successfully nullified the Nineteenth-century arbitration. In 2018, nevertheless, three years after ExxonMobil introduced a major oil discovery off the Essequibo coast, Guyana’s authorities went to the International Court of Justice and requested judges to uphold the 1899 ruling.
Tensions between the nations additional flared in 2023, when Rodríguez’s predecessor, Maduro, threatened to annex the area by drive after holding a referendum asking voters if Essequibo should be turned into a Venezuelan state. Maduro was captured Jan. 3 throughout a US army operation in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, and taken to New York to face drug trafficking prices. He has pleaded not guilty.
Rodríguez didn’t deal with the referendum in her remarks, however she advised the courtroom that the 1966 settlement is designed to permit negotiations between Venezuela and Guyana to resolve the territorial dispute. And she accused Guyana’s authorities of undermining the settlement with the “opportunistic” resolution to ask the courtroom to deal with the dispute.
“At a time when the mechanisms established in the Geneva agreement were still fully in force, Guyana unilaterally chose to shift the dispute from the negotiating arena to a judicial resolution,” she mentioned. “This change was not accidental; it coincided with the discovery in 2015 of the oil field that would become world-renowned.”
When hearings opened last weekGuyana’s international minister, Hugh Hilton Todd, advised the panel of worldwide judges that the dispute “has been a blight on our existence as a sovereign state from the very beginning.” He mentioned that 70% of Guyana’s territory is at stake.
The courtroom is prone to take months to situation a last and legally binding ruling within the case.
Venezuela has warned that its participation within the hearings doesn’t imply both consent to, or recognition of, the courtroom’s jurisdiction.
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Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.
