VENEZUELA’S acting president Delcy Rodriguez arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday where she will defend her country’s claim to a mineral and oil-rich region in western Guyana before the United Nations highest court in a dispute that has spanned decades.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague is holding a series of hearings with the South American neighbours which both claim ownership of Essequibo — a territory of nearly 62,000 square miles rich in gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources, located near massive offshore oil deposits.

Ms Rodriguez is due to appear before the court today in the final court hearing.

An1899 decision by arbitrators from Britain, Russia and the United States drew the border along the Essequibo River largely in favour of Guyana.

But Venezuela argues that a 1966 agreement sealed in Geneva to resolve the dispute nullified the 19th-century arbitration.

Acting president Rodriguez, who assumed power in January following the US kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and first Lady Celia Flores during which 100 people were killed, said her country has “demonstrated at every historical stage what our territory has meant since we were born as a Republic.”

The court is likely to take months to issue a final and legally binding ruling in the case.