United States Court of Appeals
         FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT



Argued October 5, 2023             Decided December 8, 2023

                         No. 23-7077

 VALORES MUNDIALES, S.L., AND CONSORCIO ANDINO, S.L.,
                     APPELLEES

                              v.

   BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA, MINISTERIO DEL
     PODER POPULAR PARA RELACIONES EXTERIORES,
                     APPELLANT



        Appeal from the United States District Court
                for the District of Columbia
                    (No. 1:19-cv-00046)



    Miguel López-Forastier argued the cause for appellees.
With him on the briefs were José E. Arvelo, Amanda Tuninetti,
and José F. Girón.

     Juan O. Perla argued the cause for appellant. With him on
the brief were Joseph D. Pizzurro, Sylvi Sareva, and Rebecca
Meyer.

   Before: RAO, Circuit Judge, CHILDS, Circuit Judge, and
EDWARDS, Senior Circuit Judge.
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   Opinion for the Court filed by Senior Circuit Judge
EDWARDS.

    EDWARDS, Senior Circuit Judge: The International Centre
for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) was
established in 1966 by a multilateral convention designed to
promote international investment. ICSID aims to fulfill the
goal of its generating convention by providing reliable dispute
resolution processes for member states and nationals of other
member states. However, ICSID is not authorized to enforce
arbitration awards issued pursuant to its procedures. Rather, the
parties to any such proceeding must rely on the courts of
member states to enforce awards issued by an Arbitral Tribunal
convened in accordance with the ICSID Convention. See
ICSID Convention, art. 54, 17 U.S.T. 1270. Thus, as a
signatory to the ICSID Convention, the United States has
agreed that an ICSID award will “be given the same full faith
and credit as if the award were a final judgment of a court of
general jurisdiction of one of the several States.” 22 U.S.C. §
1650a(a).

    This case concerns a claim against Venezuela, a debtor
subject to an ICSID arbitration award. In 2013, two Spanish
companies, Valores Mundiales, S.L. and Consorcio Andino,
S.L. (together, “Valores”) commenced an arbitration under the
ICSID Convention claiming that Venezuela forcibly occupied
and decreed the expropriation of the assets of the two
companies. An ICSID Arbitral Tribunal ruled in favor of
Valores, ordering Venezuela to pay more than $430 million in
compensation, plus attorneys’ fees and costs. Venezuela then
sought to annul the Arbitral Tribunal’s award. Valores, in turn,
filed an action to enforce the award in the United States District
Court for the District of Columbia. The District Court stayed
the enforcement action pending disposition of the ICSID
annulment proceeding.
                              3

    After the parties’ briefs had been submitted in the
annulment proceeding, the National Assembly of Venezuela
ceased to recognize Nicolás Maduro as President and named
Juan Guaidó as Interim President. Representatives for the
Interim Government requested the ICSID Annulment
Committee to allow it to replace the lawyers representing
Venezuela in the annulment proceeding. After careful review
of the matter, the ICSID Annulment Committee concluded that
the lawyers who had been representing Venezuela should
continue through the conclusion of the annulment proceeding.
The ICSID Annulment Committee ultimately rejected
Venezuela’s request to annul the Arbitral Tribunal’s award and
granted Valores the attorneys’ fees incurred as a result of
Venezuela’s failed bid.

    When the proceeding before the District Court resumed,
Venezuela opposed enforcement of the judgments issued by the
Arbitral Tribunal and the Annulment Committee. Venezuela
claimed that it had been deprived of due process because the
ICSID Annulment Committee had declined to recognize
counsel designated by the Guaidó regime. Venezuela also
argued that, because the United States had