On March 29, Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez announced she would travel to The Hague, Netherlands, to attend the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearing on the centuries-old territorial dispute with neighboring Guyana. It is her first departure from Venezuela since President Nicolas Maduro was abducted by U.S. forces in January 2026.
“I must leave in the coming hours to defend our homeland,” Rodriguez said in a televised address.
The ICJ case concerns the oil-rich Essequibo region, currently administered by Guyana but claimed by Venezuela. The vast area accounts for two-thirds of Guyana's present-day territory. The dispute centers on whether the current border, set in 1899 under British colonial rule, remains valid or should be redrawn according to a 1966 agreement signed before Guyana gained independence.
ExxonMobil’s discovery of offshore oil fields in Essequibo has turned Guyana—a nation of fewer than one million people—into the country with the highest per capita crude oil reserves in the world.
Rodriguez, who served as Vice President under Maduro, has long been under U.S. sanctions. However, those sanctions were lifted when she assumed the role of acting President. Officials attending ICJ hearings typically enjoy special legal protections.
Since taking office, Rodriguez has complied with several U.S. demands, including halting oil shipments to Cuba, opening the state-owned oil industry to foreign companies, and releasing political prisoners. At the same time, she has sought to maintain balance with Venezuela’s influential security forces and military.
Although invited to the United States by the Trump administration, Rodriguez has not yet made that trip, having only previously visited the Caribbean islands of Grenada and Barbados.
