Venezuela’s acting president dismisses Trump’s reported plan to turn country into 51st US state

Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez on Monday (May 11) dismissed reported comments by US President Donald Trump suggesting Venezuela could become the “51st US state.”

Rodríguez made the remarks while attending hearings at International Court of Justice in The Hague over the long-running territorial dispute between Venezuela and neighboring Guyana concerning the oil-rich Essequibo region.

“We will continue to defend our integrity, our sovereignty, our independence, our history,” Rodríguez told journalists.

Venezuela is “not a colony, but a free country,” she added.

According to anchor John Roberts, Trump said he was “seriously considering making Venezuela the 51st US state.”

Trump has previously made similar comments about Canada.

She argued that the territorial dispute should be resolved through political negotiations rather than judicial intervention.

“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,” Rodríguez told the court.

“This change was not accidental; it coincided with the discovery in 2015 of the oil field that would become world-renowned,” she added.

The area is rich in gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources. It is also located near massive offshore oil reserves currently producing an estimated 900,000 barrels of oil per day.

That production has transformed Guyana into one of South America’s fastest-growing energy producers.

Venezuela has long claimed the region as its own, arguing it historically belonged within its colonial-era boundaries.

However, an 1899 arbitration ruling by representatives from Britain, Russia and the United States established the current border largely in favor of Guyana.

In 2018, Guyana formally asked the International Court of Justice to uphold the 1899 ruling affirming its sovereignty over the territory.

The dispute intensified further in 2023 when former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro threatened to annex the region following a controversial national referendum.

Maduro was later removed from power during a US military operation in Caracas in January and transported to New York City to face drug trafficking charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

He warned that nearly 70% of Guyana’s territory is at stake in the case.

The International Court of Justice is expected to take several months before issuing a final ruling.

Venezuela has maintained that participating in the hearings does not mean it accepts the court’s jurisdiction over the dispute.