As a Guyanese, it is important to state at the outset that raising principled concerns about the conduct of powerful states in international affairs should not be misconstrued as support for any particular government. This letter is neither an endorsement of the United States’ policies toward Venezuela nor a defense of Venezuela’s current leadership. Rather, it is a reflection grounded in international law, small-state vulnerability, and the overarching imperative of peace within our region.
There are serious and well-documented concerns regarding governance failures, and questions surrounding electoral legitimacy in Venezuela. The Venezuelan people have suffered greatly as a consequence of these challenges, compounded by severe economic sanctions and structural economic decline. The resulting humanitarian crisis has led to the displacement of millions of Venezuelans to countries across the world, including our country.
Equally concerning from Guyana’s standpoint is the posture adopted by the Venezuelan government toward Guyana’s sovereignty, including unfounded, supercilious, and unmeritorious territorial claims that directly threaten our national integrity, developmental and economic aspirations.
Guyana’s position on this matter is profoundly clear, consistent, and non-negotiable: our sovereignty is absolute and inviolable, and all disputes must be resolved peacefully and strictly in accordance with international law.
At the same time, it must be acknowledged that actions taken by the United States against Venezuela particularly the imposition of unilateral sanctions outside the framework of the United Nations raise troubling legal, humanitarian, and ethical questions. Such measures sit uneasily with the principles enshrined in the UN Charter, including respect for sovereignty, non-intervention, and the peaceful settlement of disputes.
It must be stated that when international law is applied selectively, it risks erosion of its legitimacy and moral authority.
For small states such as ours, and for the wider Caribbean region, this erosion of legal norms is not an abstract concern. Guyana shares a long and porous border with Venezuela, and prolonged instability carries tangible risks: humanitarian spillovers, migration pressures, cross-border insecurity, illegal squatting, transnational crime, and heightened geopolitical tension. These are burdens that small states are least equipped to absorb, yet most likely to inherit when great-power rivalries and unresolved regional disputes escalate.
Guyana’s security does not rest on coercion or military might. It rests on diplomacy, multilateralism, CARICOM solidarity, and an international system governed by rules rather than force.
With our present day reality, knowledge of History has been made even more accessible in this age of digital information and social media which has repeatedly shown that externally driven regime-change strategies rarely deliver stability or democracy. More often, they deepen suffering and prolong conflict, harming the very populations such actions purport to help.
Latin America and the Caribbean have long aspired to remain a zone of peace. That aspiration demands restraint from all actors global and regional alike and a renewed commitment to dialogue, mutual respect, and the consistent application of international law.
In the twenty-first century, the international community must also remain vigilant and stand firm against the re-emergence of imperial or neo-colonial practices, particularly those directed at vulnerable states endowed with underdeveloped natural resources. Such states possess the latent capacity not only to uplift their own populations, but also to contribute meaningfully to regional stability and to global efforts to confront existential challenges such as climate change.
Most will accept, that sustainable development, human security, and environmental resilience cannot flourish under conditions of coercion or external domination. What is required, what is needed instead is a season of peace one that allows nations to exercise genuine sovereignty over their resources, pursue inclusive development, and cooperate collectively in advancing the shared progress of humanity.
Might is not always right.
It must be stated for emphasis, for small states like Guyana and the Caribbean, the defense of international law is not ideological it is existential. Peace, sovereignty, and stability depend on principles being applied equally, regardless of a nation’s size, wealth, or military power. We need peace, not war.
Yours respectfully,
Jermaine Figueira
Former Member of Parliament
