(Demerara Waves) – Guyana on Monday presented concrete documentary evidence to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Venezuela had for more than 60 years accepted the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award of the land boundary, and never registered any objections.
“The evidence is resoundingly clear that from the very instant when the 1899 award was delivered some 127 years ago, until 1962 Venezuela constantly accepted, recognized, complied with and insisted on strictly following the award. It was well aware of any possible grounds for challenging the award, as much as Venezuela now denies this.
Its officials repeatedly expressed their satisfaction and depicted the outcome as a victory, having gained the most valuable part of the disputed territory, the mouth of the Orinoco River,” Professor Nilufer Oral told the ICJ during day one of hearings on the merits of the Guyana-Venezuela land boundary case.
Ms Oral, who is the Director of the Centre of International Law at the National University of Singapore and a member of the UN International Law Commission (ILC), backed up her presentation with several official maps of Venezuela, official correspondence and statements by top Venezuelan officials.
