Prepared for any reaction

Sep 16, 2026 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali has made bluffing a centerpiece of his political life. Often, he makes statements for public consumption that he cannot backup. In the local environment, his list of such statements is long. Media and information, transparency and accountability, corruption and cleaning house, unity and access to information, are some quick extracts from his postures, that he has had to walk back, tone down, or hide from to avoid embarrassing himself further.

He recently went on Al-Jazeera, and did what he has always done, and which he believes that he is now so good at, that the world falls for it. “We are prepared for any reaction to the court ruling. The court is going to determine the merits of words and facts, and then when the court determines that, and then what is left before is how do we walk back from sometimes the harsh realities of our own words.” When President Ali is like this, there is no stopping him. He believes that reality has to yield to his verbal barrages, that inconvenient contexts are best ignored, and that his salesmanship is enough to carry the day. We have seen leaders like President Ali before. The best way to cut through empty rhetoric is to be sympathetic to those who are prone to ignore facts and circumstances, and place those before the public.

Venezuela has already made itself clear on any International Court of Justice ruling that goes against its national interests. Such a ruling would have no bearing on Venezuela’s claim on Guyana’s territory, and as relevant as what is nonexistent. President Ali may believe the force of his own rhetoric. Venezuelan leaders, however, know that he is nothing but straw in the wind without the US behind him. He can talk, but without the US in Guyana’s corner, he is nothing. Regarding its own situation, Venezuela has just had not one, but two slaps across the face, and both from the US.

Its president, Nicolas Maduro, was dragged out of Venezuela, like a common criminal, and dumped in a US jail to begin his likely losing battle to free himself from US captivity. The second blow came when Venezuela lost control of a quarter of its vast oil reserves and, as in the instance of Maduro, being powerless to do anything to prevent that from happening. A third blow, a loss handed down by the ICJ on its claim of over two-thirds of Guyana’s territory, would simply be intolerable to proud Venezuelans. What would they have left to live for in such a situation? How much more could Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez and her cooperative team, absorb and what would they have left to recommend them?

While one of the members of the ExxonMobil-led consortium, Chevron, is making its mark in Venezuela, ExxonMobil itself is still sticking to its initial reaction to the changes taking shape in Guyana’s neighbour. It is a place that the company views as “un-investable.” Time will provide evidence on how long that posture remains intact. But with the US firmly in the driver’s seat in Caracas, Exxon Guyana can feel more comfortable to expand its footprint in Guyana’s waters, by venturing in what was previously hostile and off-limits areas, from a Venezuelan standpoint. The question that we asked earlier returns with added power. How much more of this tightening of the walls around it, can that country tolerate?

It is in these contexts, that Guyana’s President Ali stated that “we are prepared for any reaction to the court ruling.” The president has never been lacking in overconfidence and overstatement. Reaction from Venezuela can be that of a wounded and helpless sitting duck. Or one that bides its time, and look for ways to burst President Ali’s bubble. We at this paper believe that it is in Guyana’s best interests, of President Ali is more careful with his words and postures. One recommendation is that there be less of the bluster, what could be misinterpreted as taunting. He should be more aware of Guyana’s vulnerabilities and its dependence on the US. Sober circumspection is healthier than boastful exaggeration. Venezuela has lost some of its teeth, but not its powerful tail.

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Editorial, President Irfaan Ali, reaction

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