Guyana tells UN court that Venezuelan referendum on territorial dispute is an ‘existential threat’

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Guyana has urged judges at the United Nations’ highest court to call a halt to parts of a Venezuelan referendum about a territorial dispute between the South American neighbors. Guyana representatives have called the planned vote an “existential threat” designed to pave the way for the annexation of a large part of their country. Two days of hearings have opened Tuesday at the International Court of Justice. They are the latest legal tussle between Guyana and Venezuela in a dispute over a resource-rich chunk of territory that dates back to an arbitration award in 1899 that drew the border between them.