Rodríguez Rejects Trump’s Venezuela 51st State Remark in The Hague
Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez rejected Donald Trump’s venezuela 51st state remark on Monday in The Hague. Rodríguez told journalists that Venezuela had no plans to become the 51st U.S. state while she spoke at the International Court of Justice on the final day of hearings in the Essequibo dispute.
Trump said he was seriously considering making Venezuela the 51st U.S. state, a comment that landed as Rodríguez defended Venezuela’s sovereignty and said the country would continue to protect its integrity, independence and history. She also said Venezuela is not a colony but a free country.
The Hague and the Essequibo case
Rodríguez was at the United Nations’ highest court to defend Venezuela’s claim to Essequibo, a 62,000-square-mile territory that makes up two-thirds of Guyana and is rich in gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources. The territory also sits near offshore oil deposits currently producing an average of 900,000 barrels a day, while Venezuela’s daily production is about 1 million barrels a day.
The dispute stretches back through the 1899 border ruling, when arbitrators from Britain, Russia and the United States drew the line along the Essequibo River largely in Guyana’s favor. Venezuela has argued since 1966 that a Geneva agreement nullified that arbitration, and Guyana went to the International Court of Justice in 2018 asking judges to uphold the 1899 ruling.
Rodríguez and U.S. officials
Rodríguez said Venezuelan and U.S. officials have been in touch and are working on cooperation and understanding. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly later declined to comment on Trump’s plans in an interview with John Roberts on, saying Trump is famous for never accepting the status quo and describing Rodríguez as working incredibly cooperatively with the U.S.
The exchange lands against a conflict that sharpened in 2023, when Nicolás Maduro threatened to annex Essequibo by force after a referendum on whether the region should be turned into a Venezuelan state. Maduro was captured on Jan. 3, 2026 during a U.S. military operation in Caracas and taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges.
Rodríguez’s appearance in The Hague now leaves the territorial dispute with one immediate political overlay: a fresh presidential claim from Washington and a public rejection from Caracas. The next step inside the case is the court process itself, while Venezuela and Guyana continue pressing their competing claims over Essequibo.
