The brooch depicts the map of Venezuela, including the Essequibo, a region that Caracas claims from Guyana.image: AFP
An accessory worn by Delcy Rodriguez during an official visit to the Caribbean has sparked a strong reaction from Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali.
April 29, 2026, 10:20 p.mApril 29, 2026, 10:20 p.m
A gold brooch worn by incumbent Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez depicting the map of her country including Essequibo – a region Caracas claims from Guyana – has sparked a diplomatic controversy.
Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday complained about the shape of the brooch worn by Delcy Rodriguez during two official visits to the Caribbean, calling this “display of ostentatious symbols” reinforcing Venezuela’s territorial claim “deeply regrettable.”
Irfaan Ali.Image: Keystone
Rodriguez replied to him late in the afternoon:
“They’re making a big deal out of it here because I always use the map of Venezuela with its entire territory – the only map I’ve known in my entire life.”
“Now it even bothers them how we dress. And I said to the Secretary of State: ‘Well, tell them to burn the history books too, because Venezuela’s rights to the Essequibo are historic, they are irrefutable. There is no way we can be tricked into giving anything away or legitimizing a robbery of the Essequibo,” she added.
Fear of armed conflict
The Essequibo, a 160,000 km² oil-rich region, has been administered by Guyana for more than a century but is at the center of a dispute with Venezuela as the two countries disagree over the location of their shared border. Ousted President Nicolas Maduro’s repeated calls for annexation of Essequibo have raised fears of an armed conflict.
Former Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who replaced Nicolas Maduro after his arrest by the US Army on January 3, was responsible, among other things, for the Essequibo issue before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). During her two official visits abroad this month, Rodriguez wore this brooch.
“The use of CARICOM meetings to project or promote a territorial claim against a member state could be interpreted as consent or tolerance,” assessed the President of Guyana in a letter to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). For his part, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil made fun of it on social media:
“It is really unusual that President Irfaan Ali is now acting as a referee and stylist and even wants to dictate how other heads of state should dress.”
CARICOM has released a statement stressing that “community platforms and engagements must not be used, directly or indirectly, to promote claims or appear to legitimize them.” “The Community’s longstanding and unequivocal support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana and for the peaceful resolution of the conflict through the ICJ remains firm and unchanged,” she concludes.
A threat from Caracas
The Essequibo, an oil-rich region covering some 160,000 km², has been administered by Guyana for more than a century but is at the center of a dispute with Venezuela as the two countries disagree over the location of their shared border. Ousted President Nicolas Maduro’s repeated calls for the annexation of Essequibo have raised fears of an armed conflict.
Georgetown argues that the route of its colonial-era border was confirmed by an arbitration court in Paris in 1899 and wants the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to uphold it. For its part, Venezuela asserts that an agreement signed with the British in Geneva in 1966 – before Guyana’s independence – forms the basis for a negotiated solution outside the ICJ, claiming that the Essequibo River should be the natural border, as it was in 1777 at the time of Spanish colonization. (jzs/afp)