On 19 June, Guyana announced that it would ask the Court to rule on their favor citing Article 53 of the ICJ Estatute, which establishes that "if any of the two parties does not show at the tribunal or fails to defend their case, the other party has the right to communicate with the court and to rule in favor of their claim". In July 2018, the government of Nicolás Maduro argued that the ICJ did not hold jurisdiction over the dispute and said that Venezuela would not participate in the proceedings. The Court stated that Guyana would have until 19 November to present their arguments and Venezuela would have until 18 April 2019 to present their counter arguments. During the Venezuelan presidential crisis, disputed acting president Juan Guaidó and the pro-opposition National Assembly of Venezuela ratified the territorial dispute over the territory.