President Mohamed Irfaan Ali in an interview with the BBC, one day after the Venezuelan referendum asserted that “we are not taking the narratives coming out of Venezuela for granted”. The President was at the time responding to a question from a journalist of the British Broadcasting Corporation on if he thinks Venezuela will respect the provisional measures set out by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or whether the country will attempt to annex the oil and mineral-rich Essequibo region of Guyana.
The Head of State contended that while he is concerned that Venezuela can follow up their rhetoric and reckless narratives he believes that Venezuela does not only have a responsibility to honour the provisional measures ordered by the court but to also respect the 1899 Arbitral Award.
On Friday, December 1, 2023, the International Court of Justice granted two provisional measures which were both favourable to Guyana. The Court ordered Venezuela to stand down and “refrain from taking any action which would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute, whereby the Co-operative Republic of Guyana administers and exercises control over that area. “
On December 3, Venezuela held a consultative referendum which comprised five questions on the Guyana- Venezuela border controversy. While several international press who were on the ground in Venezuela reported that the referendum was marked by low voter turnout which was uncharacteristic of voting stations; reports coming out of the Venezuelan electoral authority indicate that all questions posed in the referendum passed with more than 95% approval