action in violation of the provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2023.

“France calls on Venezuela to respect Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the principles of international law and the order of the International Court of Justice of December 1, 2023 asking it to refrain from any unilateral action likely to change the situation that currently prevails off Essequibo,” Paris said in a statement. Over the weekend, Guyana alerted the international community to the presence of a Venezuelan naval vessel that was near its oil assets for about four hours.

Since then, the United States, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Commonwealth, as well as the Organization of American States (OAS) have all called on Venezuela to not engage in further provocation by threatening ExxonMobil’s Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.