‘Zone of Peace in Peril’ – Walton-Desir

Dec 16, 2025 News

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– warns Guyana could pay the price as U.S.–Venezuela tensions escalate

(Kaieteur News) – Leader of the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) and Member of Parliament Amanza Walton-Desir has sounded a stark warning over rising tensions between the United States and Venezuela, cautioning that any escalation into open conflict in Caribbean waters could have devastating and irreversible consequences for Guyana and the wider region.

Speaking during an interview on GoMosely Radio, Walton-Desir said the Caribbean’s long-cherished identity as a “zone of peace” is now under serious threat. “I am deeply concerned. What we are seeing is an aspiration we held on to for decades slipping away, and that has to alarm all of us,” she said. She also criticised what she described as a lack of decisive regional intervention by CARICOM.

Walton-Desir warned that any escalation into war would have direct and lasting consequences for Guyana, particularly given its proximity to Venezuela. She stressed that regional leaders must approach the situation with restraint. “For us in this region though, our leaders, the ones that speak on our behalf have to understand that now is the time for them to be very sober and very temperate because we have seen this played out in other parts of the world and it never ends well…do you understand what this means for Guyana should this happen? Do you understand that our lives will never be the same if war breaks out in Venezuela and so we have got to understand the implications for us,” she cautioned.

The MP explained that a conflict would likely result in a sharp increase in migration into Guyana. She noted that an influx of refugees would overwhelm the country’s healthcare, education, and social services, while forcing the government to divert resources away from improving the lives of Guyanese. Walton-Desir also warned of serious security implications, including the spill over of illegal arms, drugs, and criminal activity.

While acknowledging Venezuela’s actions regarding Guyana’s Essequibo territory, Walton-Desir maintained that war would serve no constructive purpose. “Maduro has been a pain in our side as it relates to Essequibo, but war in the region will serve no purpose, it will benefit no one,” she said.

CARICOM lack of regional intervention

In relation to CARICOM, Walton-Desir said the regional body must take a stronger, more unified stance. She called for a return to a rules-based international order and criticised the organisation’s long-standing inability to act collectively, which she said has left Caribbean states vulnerable to pressure from larger powers. “I think Caricom as a body in terms of a head of government are in a difficult position of navigating their local realities in the context of this multilateral agency. You look at the issue that Grenada had the other day with a radar request and so, the vulnerability of the Caribbean region has always been the ability of larger states to come in and to pick us off one by one, because we have never been able to collectively address our issues. So Trinidad is clear we got security issues here, so we will do what we have to do for us, Barbados is saying something else and that is as a result of CARICOM never being able to fulfil the mandate of true regional integration and till now we are paying for it with the fractures,” the MP explained.

Walton-Desir stated that while there are emerging Caribbean leaders capable of navigating these challenges, the region still lacks sufficient cohesive leadership to manage the current geopolitical crisis effectively. “So the dream of regional integration continues to be under threat and it will take the Caribbean people, it will take the Caribbean leaders awhile to really develop some ability to navigate this skilfully, we unfortunately do not have leaders of the calibre; prime minister Motley is probably the most closest we have to a Caribbean states person emerging in recent years and so it is going to be a challenge,” she said.

Last Wednesday, the United States seized an oil tanker just off the coast of Venezuela, an action confirmed by President Donald Trump. The vessel had been sanctioned by the U.S., and Trump stated that the oil would be retained by U.S. authorities, according to Reuters reports. In response, the Venezuelan government accused the United States of “blatant theft” and described the seizure as “an act of international piracy.” The Venezuelan government said it would “defend its sovereignty, natural resources, and national dignity with absolute determination” and denounce the seizure of the tanker before international bodies.

The seizure marked the first known action against an oil tanker since the U.S. ordered a significant military build-up in the region. The U.S. has already carried out several strikes against suspected drug vessels, which has raised concerns among lawmakers and legal experts. British maritime risk management group Vanguard said the tanker Skipper was believed to have been seized off Venezuela early on Wednesday. The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the tanker for what Washington said was involvement in Iranian oil trading when it was called the Adisa.

The vessel reportedly left Venezuela’s main oil port carrying approximately 1.1 million barrels of crude. The Skipper left Venezuela’s main oil port of Jose between December 4 and 5 after loading about 1.1 million barrels of Venezuela’s Merey heavy crude, according to satellite info analysed by TankerTrackers.com and internal shipping data from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA. Oil futures rose following news of the seizure. After trading in negative territory, Brent crude futures rose 27 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $62.21 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 21 cents, also 0.4%, to close at $58.46 per barrel.

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• Forward Guyana Movement, peril, U.S. Venezuela, US-Venezuela, war, Zone of Peace

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