President Dr Irfaan Ali and Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier Omar Khan
GEORGETOWN, Guyana--As concerns continue to mount over rising tensions between the United States and neighbouring Venezuela, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in Guyana, President Dr Irfaan Ali, has reassured that there is a comprehensive defence strategy to protect the country and its people in the event of any escalation.
Speaking with reporters on the sidelines of an event on Wednesday at the Office of the President in Georgetown, the Guyanese Head of State was asked about plans in place to protect Guyana and its people should the country be caught in the crossfire between Washington DC and Caracas.
“I would not publicly tell you about our defence strategy, but I can reassure you that with our international partners, we have, over the number of years, developed, and we’ve been working on, a comprehensive defence plan and strategy for our country,” the Guyanese leader posited.
He went on to add that, “…And I’m confident that with [support from] our international partners, that strategy would work and would be able to protect us. I have confidence in our men and women in uniform, in the leadership of the Guyana Defence Force and in the partnership with our partners.”
According to the Commander-in-Chief, the safety and security of Guyana and its people are paramount, including those who are residing in other territories.
“Of course, the safety and security of our country and citizens is always important, wherever our citizens reside. We have a lot of Guyanese who returned home from Venezuela over the years because of the situation over there. And I’m sure that whatever support is needed, in the event that Guyanese in Venezuela or anywhere else in the region, feeling the need to return home to be safe, that they can expect support of the Government,” President Ali assured.
Only two weeks ago, the Guyanese Head of State reminded reporters of the aggression and threats Guyana is facing from the Nicolás Maduro regime.
Venezuela has deployed a number of aggressive tactics over the years, including earlier in 2025, as it continues to lay spurious claims to more than two-thirds of Guyana’s landmass – the entire Essequibo region and a portion of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), where successful oil operations are ongoing offshore by US-based oil giant ExxonMobil and its partners.
The US Government is conducting massive military operations off the Venezuelan shore to combat transnational crime and the illicit drug trade – an operation that the Ali-led Administration has fully backed.
“You know that we have a peculiar situation in Guyana. We just had Venezuelans being charged for terrorist activity in Guyana that claimed the life of [a] young person. We have a border situation to manage [whereby] we have an active threat from Venezuela on the sovereignty of this country. And my responsibility is to keep Guyanese safe, to keep Guyana safe, and to work with all our allies and partners in doing that. And I intend to continue to work strongly with our allies in doing exactly that,” the Head of State told reporters on December 17.
In the same breath, President Ali added, “My Administration has absolutely no sympathy for drug traffickers. Tens of thousands, millions of lives are destroyed, and also economies are destroyed by smuggling… We also see our region as one in which democracy must be able to thrive, in which the rule of law must win every single day, [and] in which the freedom of our people, wherever they live and exist, must be honoured. And that is an important element of any modern society, and we support the region being a zone of peace.”
