Director of the Centre for International and Border Studies, Dr Mark Kirton believes that while Guyana has suffered at the hands of Venezuela due to its sustained acts of aggression and baseless claims to the Essequibo, the country must stand on the side of international principle in wake of the capture of the Venezuelan President and his wife by US Special Forces and their removal from the country. .

Venezuela’s Vice President, Delcy Rodrigues has since been sworn in as the interim President, as Maduro and wife face drug trafficking charges in the United States.

In an interview with News Source, Dr. Kirton said Guyana would want to ensure that it helps to maintain principles and practices of international law, regardless of its history with Caracas. He said the country has always championed respect for international law.

“We have adhered to those principles while at the same time from the 1960s to now, Venezuela has repeatedly violated those principles. Now, when you now turn up in 2025 and see the US now violating those same principles, which undergird our positions, I think that is immediately a question that we need to analyze more robustly,” he told News Source.

He said it is important for the country to carefully analyze the situation, even as it remains fluid with a high level of uncertainty.

 “When we look at different levels of analyses, in the second place, the US is supposed to run things as they say in Venezuela, while that might be a tactical process.  have not seen a grand strategy emerge”, he stated.

Dr. Kirton also opined that with the US now declaring control over Venezuela and with Rodriguez at the helm, Guyana must be careful even with the Guyana/Venezuela Border Controversy before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“We have seen, maybe as a tactic, the appointment of Delcy Rodriguez as an interim president and that too may raise some red flags in Guyana. She has too, as Foreign Minister, and then as Vice President, has been very strident in opposing the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in the Guyana-Venezuela Border issue. So, while it is clear that whatever government is in place in Venezuela, there is this view that Essequibo belongs to Venezuela and we even saw where she and then President Maduro were responsible for the establishment, quite curiously, the State of Guayana Esequiba once again against the whole principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity in the case of Guyana. So, we have to be careful,” Dr Kirton said.

He said there may be an attempt by Rodriguez to employ a “transactionalist” approach to “resolve” the border controversy and Guyana must guard against that.

He said on the flip side, there could be major push back by Venezuela against the interventions of the US, and that could lead to further instability in the country, which for decades, has been battling a social and economic crisis.

That, he said, could result in another wave of migrants flooding Guyana’s border communities with implication for the country’s social services, but also its security.

Guyana, he said, must therefore have a robust and comprehensive plan in place to ensure that the country’s borders are protected, and migrants are thoroughly screened.

 In the medium term, Dr Kirton believes that there could also be implications for Guyana’s Oil Sector with a possible drop in oil revenues, particularly if Venezuela’s Oil Sector is revitalized as promised by President Trump.

He said regardless of the situation in Venezuela, Guyana must have a “whole of country” approach to advance development, and safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“My view is that we have to get the opposition, the other stakeholders, academic and religious communities together to develop that kind of approach. One has to recognize too that Guyana’s diplomacy has to continue to be our first line of defence. So, in that sense, I believe the diplomatic effort must be enhanced, and where we see, new alliances must be created and alliances which we have in place already must be strengthened,” Dr Kirton said.

Dr Kirton has long championed the need for a unit comprising Government and non-government organizations, and key stakeholders to be established to conduct day to day analysis on the controversy, and influence policy decisions.

With the new developments in Venezuela, he said it is even more important now for such a unit.

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