Security is serious business

Dec 28, 2025 Letters

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Dear Editor,

As Venezuela continues its aggressive posturing toward Guyana’s Essequibo region, the ongoing US military deployment in the Caribbean has raised debate about its foreign policy and regional security. Operation Southern Spear evolution reveals deep geopolitical dynamics that deserve scrutiny from those of us living in this region.

Trump sent USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group—one of the most substantial American military presences in the Caribbean in decades. I heard there are in numbers, just a few hundred less than a Brigade of troops, already deployed, awaiting offensive strike orders. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s unequivocal warning that any Venezuelan attack on Guyana would result in “a very bad day” for the Maduro regime signals a hardening US stance. This is war language.

In particular, Venezuela’s claim to two-thirds of Guyana’s territory—a claim the International Court of Justice has explicitly, in the interim, warned against pursuing—stems from a dispute that predates our independence. The 1899 Arbitral Award settled this boundary, which the UK orchestrated yet Venezuela rejects this. With ExxonMobil and its partners’s discovery of over 11 billion barrels of oil in Guyana, transforming Guyana into one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, Venezuela’s actions—from illegal gold mining to facilitating drug trafficking through Guyanese territory—constitute clear violations of our sovereignty and international law.

However, while we see US involvement as gratuitous, we must use our clear-eyes, in simple words, tek out de booboo. The Trump administration has explicitly adopted a transactional foreign policy approach. Secretary Rubio’s specific mention of protecting ExxonMobil alongside Guyana’s sovereignty reveals what drives American commitment: protecting US corporate interests. While this alignment serves us, it also means our defense depends partly on the profitability of American oil operations. This to me means clearly, wanting of a bilateral arrangement.

The broader regional implications are important. This Operation has divided Latin America and the Caribbean, with the Cuba-Nicaragua-Venezuela axis denouncing it, while Trinidad and Tobago, along with our own government, have welcomed it. Most, if not all, CARICOM foreign ministers have expressed concern about military operations conducted without prior regional consultation, due to their sovereignty and any security cooperation due to an escalation.

The US military strikes on alleged drug trafficking vessels since September 2025, which have resulted in over 105 deaths according to American authorities, raise questions about due process and the rules of engagement. While combating narco-terrorism is essential, extrajudicial killings at sea without accountability mechanisms set precedents, even when targeting criminal organizations. I would, however, advocate that the end must justify the means.

Security is serious business. Guyana must advocate for a multi-layered approach. First, a continued legal pressure through the ICJ, perhaps retaining an American Law Firm to appease the Americans. Second, Guyana must strengthen regional security partnerships with every CARICOM member, and Brazil, sharing our concerns about Venezuelan aggression, though it is unrealistic to think that Brazil would show more empathy and sympathy to Guyana. Third, to strengthen the objectives of US’s Southern Spear, we accelerate further our own defense capabilities to wage effective asymmetrical defense. We must enact a Drafting law for military service through conscription for men over 19 so we can be in a position to assist US Army ground warfare. Greece, for instance, has a policy of military 9 months service in the Air Force and Navy, and 12 months in the Army for males aged 19-45. We can easily borrow Naval ships.

The international community, particularly through the UN Security Council, must try concrete action in holding Venezuela accountable for defying the ICJ and threatening a sovereign nation. The principle that territorial disputes must be resolved peacefully through international law can’t be sidelined because a regime chooses to ignore it. Guyanese citizens facing Venezuelan territorial threats, highlighted by Ms. Guyana’s Diplomat Triscilla Persaud on December 23, 2025, to the UN Security Council in her presentation where she emphaized Guyana’s abhorrence of Maduro illicit drug and illegal gold mining in Guyana, and his two-third’s annexation plan, raises important questions. We are obligated to find solutions. An old adage is appropriate—put your money where your mouth is!

US foreign policy in our region reflects American interests first. This is not problematic. However, we must build our security on multiple pillars. Transactional goodwill has strings. Our territorial integrity, and the safety of 125,000 Essequibans cannot depend entirely on whether protecting us remains convenient for American policy objectives, especially when they are tied to the US dollar- for we all know about the evilness of money, regardless of type of currency. In conclusion, the path forward requires strategic partnerships. Venezuela’s bullying tactics must be met with coordinated regional and international response. In ensuring that in such protection, we aim to not compromise the very sovereignty we aim to defend, the urgent need for conscription arises. We have run out of options and time.

Regards, M. Shabeer Zafar

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• ExxonMobil, Letters, Security, serious business, US military, Venezuela

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