Since the government of the United States of America has stationed an armada of some of the world’s most powerful military ships off the coast of Venezuela and, therefore, in the waters of the Caribbean, this fact has become to some CARICOM leaders ‘a bone of contention’, while, to others, it is more than welcome.
Some 46 years ago on October 31, 1979, the government of Grenada, supported by all of the Caribbean Heads of State, introduced a Resolution at the General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS) that the Caribbean should be declared a “Zone of Peace”. The resolution was passed unanimously, including with the support of the government of the United States of America. This concept was reinforced in 2014 when the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) formally embraced this resolution. In essence, it is a commitment by Caribbean nations to maintain peace, sovereignty, and non-intervention in the region. It seems, however, a commitment more honoured in the breach than in fact.
The loudest voice amongst the CARICOM leaders critical of the presence of the US armada in our waters is Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, when she recently addressed the Barbados Labour Party’s 86th Conference in Bridgetown. She described the bombing and destruction by the US forces of boats they claimed to be operated by narco terrorists carrying dangerous drugs for entry into the US as “extra-judicial killings”, and referred to the US fleet as “menacing military vessels from the United States across the Caribbean Sea”. Mottley went on to say that “peace is critical to all we do in this region, and now that peace is being threatened, we have to speak up”.
The Barbados Prime Minister, however, seems to have forgotten that that “peace” was long since disturbed when US forces invaded Grenada in 1983 to protect its students when Grenadian Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop, was murdered and, more recently, the ongoing threat of military intervention in Guyana by the Maduro regime in their alleged illegal claim of the Essequibo, about which, again, with the exception of Trinidad and Tobago, the CARICOM leaders have seemingly been peculiarly silent.
Therefore, according to Prime Minister Mottley, “peace is being threatened” by the presence of the US armada off the coast of Venezuela and by the elimination of boats said to be carrying dangerous drugs.
Well, is it?
The presence of the US fleet is said to be specifically directed at the machinations of Nicolas Maduro. Just days ago, our country was attacked by a bomber out of Venezuela who arrived complete with sophisticated equipment to set off the bomb, and who confessed to being connected with known terrorist organisations in Venezuela. According to the US government, whether true or false we don’t know, these terrorist gangs come under the direction of the Maduro regime. So far, Prime Minister Mottley, nor any other of the CARICOM leaders, have seen fit to comment on this attack on Guyana.
The government of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago is the outstanding exception who has not only refused to support the statement from the CARICOM Heads critical of the US fleet in the Caribbean, but whose government further categorically expressed “a strong support for the ongoing military intervention of the United States of America in the region”.
Casting traditional CARICOM diplomacy aside, the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister has unapologetically said, “I do not consider CARICOM a reliable partner and over the next couple of years there will be a significant realignment of our policy”. It raises the question, of course, whether the Government of Guyana can rely on the support of its CARICOM “partners” to protect us from what appears to be the dangerously escalating menace to our peace, security and stability from Venezuela and let me stress that this threat is not from the Venezuelan people, thousands of whom live in Guyana, but from the narco gangs and regime allegedly led by Nicolas Maduro.
Guyana’s President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, while supporting the CARICOM position, at the same time has given full support to the interdiction of any or all drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean and has not criticised the presence of the American fleet in our waters. Where Guyana stands and where the US government stands with us has been made very plain by US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, when he visited Guyana in March 2025. Speaking at a press conference alongside President Ali at State House, Rubio said, “It would be a very bad day for the Venezuelan regime if they were to attack Guyana or attack ExxonMobil or anything like it … it would be a very bad day, a very bad week for them and it would not end well for them.”
In all of this, there is seemingly a blatant hypocrisy evidenced in the position of the CARICOM leaders quick to criticise the Americans but, with the marked exception of Kamla Persad-Bissessar, failing to recognise and raise their voices against the actions of the Maduro regime against the territorial integrity of Guyana.
Former Senior Minister for Finance in the PPP/C government, Asgar Ally, has, therefore, quite correctly, raised his voice in criticism of the Barbados Prime Minister, and, by inference, the CARICOM Heads opposed to the American military naval presence in our waters. Asgar Ally describes Prime Minister Mottley’s remarks as “both imprudent and unjustifiable”. “I find the Barbados Prime Minister’s position dangerously naïve”, he said. Ally points out that “the US has never shown a propensity or inclination to occupy sovereign states in our region for long term occupation; rather, the US presence has often served as a stabilising factor for democratic nations. All countries that profess democratic values should therefore support efforts to counter dictators like Maduro and defend the sovereignty of smaller states in our region. Rejecting US presence now undermines our capacity to defend peace, sovereignty, and the rule of law in the Caribbean.”
We cannot forget the fact that Venezuela still occupies Ankoko Island, which is part of Guyana, that they have bridged a connection to Venezuela, carrying Venezuelan armed vehicles and tanks, that from time to time, Venezuelan troops have been mobilised along our borders, a Venezuelan military vessel has crossed into our waters and threatened an Exxon FPSO, that the Venezuelan legislator has appointed a Governor to rule over the Essequibo. While all of that is happening, not a word of protest or support for Guyana about this challenge to the Caribbean Zone of Peace from any of those Caribbean leaders now loud in their protest against the American presence in our waters. So much for Caribbean unity when one of its own is directly threatened. The US fleet in the Caribbean is threatening no one except Maduro.
Kit Nascimento
Georgetown, Guyana
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