Guyana’s ambassador to the United Nations, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Friday said that the Caribbean ‘treasures the region as a zone of peace’ even as it supports efforts by the United States to deal with narco-trafficking.
She told the United Nations Security Council discussing the Unites States’ military actions in the Caribbean Sea, that Guyana has joined several Caribbean countries in strengthening its response ‘to new and emerging drug threats by launching an early warning system designed to detect, assess and respond swiftly to new active substances and strengthen our overall public health and national security frameworks’.
She said while international regional and bilateral cooperation has been crucial in dismantling the trafficking networks that exploit Guyana as a trans-shipment point for cocaine and ither narcotics.
‘it is in this spirit that Guyana continues to advocate for strengthen partnerships and cooperation among countries and regional and international organizations. Such partnerships must be rooted in the rule of law and international legal frameworks ensuring a unified and lawful approach to combating drug trafficking and related crimes.
‘We treasure the region’s designation as a zone of peace. As such our commitment to non-intervention, respective for sovereignty and territorial integrity and to the specific settlements of disputes is firm and unwavering.
‘We are also cognizant that this peace is not immune to the threats of criminal trans national drug trafficking networks. Indeed, no country in the Latin America and Caribbean region or in North America is untouched by the devastating impacts of the illicit trafficking of drugs, and arms and ammunition,’ Guyanese diplomat said.
‘We can and must collectively respond in a manner that safeguards the stability of the region and the security of our people’ Rodrigues-Birkett said, adding it must be the responsibility of all leader to be ‘beacons of peace and to contribute to the proliferation of armed conflict.
‘Guyana will continue to be a partner for peace and is committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure we simultaneously address forces of instability and strive while upholding our adherence to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter’.
Last month, as she addressed the United Nations General Assembly, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar said she fully supports the decision of the United States to deploy ‘military assets’ into the Caribbean region to destroy what it described as ‘the terrorist drug cartels’.
She said also that the Caribbean is not a zone of peace and that such a notion has ‘become a false ideal.
‘The reality is stark – no such peace exists today,’ she said, adding ‘for too many in our region, peace is not daily life but an elusive promise glimpsed, and never grasped. In its absence, our citizens pay a terrible toll’.
President Donald Trump ramped up US military presence in the Caribbean Sea ordering an amphibious squadron to the southern Caribbean as part of his effort to address threats from Latin American drug cartels.
A nuclear-powered attack submarine, additional P8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, several destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser are also being allocated to US Southern Command as part of the mission.
The United States military has carried out four deadly air strikes in Caribbean waters over the past few weeks against what Washington alleges are Caracas-backed drug traffickers. The Venezuelan government denies the charge, accusing the administration of being a threat to the peace and security of the whole region.
Venezuela with support from China and Russia on Friday condemned the actions of the United States during the Security Council meeting.
The Venezuelan delegate denounced the United States ‘campaign of propaganda and disinformation’ and its ‘growing deployment of military forces’ just off Venezuelan shores.
He said this includes ‘over 10,000 personnel, combat aircraft, missile destroyers and cruisers, assault troops, assets used in special-operations and even a nuclear submarine’ and that this ‘belligerent action and rhetoric’ make it ‘rational to anticipate that in the very short term an armed attack is to be perpetrated against Venezuela’.
The Venezuelan diplomat said that the United States has bombed four small vessels in the Caribbean, killing unarmed civilians who posed no threat.
‘This is not self-defence; these are extra-judicial killings,’ he stressed, adding that ‘the conflict does not exist; it is being manufactured by the United States’.
Venezuela ‘does not seek war with anyone’, he clarified, warning nonetheless that if the United States were to attack Venezuela, his country has the ‘sacred duty to defend what is ours,’ the diplomat added..
‘In the name of combating drug trafficking, the US has deployed forces in the Caribbean waters off the coast of Venezuela,’ the China’s delegate said, adding it even seized Venezuelan fishing boats, ‘resulting in continued tensions in the region’.
The Chinese diplomat said such actions ‘severely infringe on other countries’ sovereignty’, and ‘threaten regional peace and security’.
Unilateral and excessive enforcement operations against other countries’ vessels ‘infringe on relevant personnel’s right to life and other basic human rights’ and ‘pose a threat to freedom and security of navigation’.
But the United States responded by saying United States it will not be flooded by illicit drugs being brought into its borders from Venezuela, dismissing suggestions that its actions are a pretext for regime change in Caracas.
The US delegate said that the Trump administration is ‘on the offensive against drug trafficking and cartels’ bringing drugs into the United States, which has determined to bring its full might against those illicit actors.
He said the United States will not be flooded by cocaine, fentanyl and other drugs being brought into its borders from Venezuela and elsewhere, killing Americans.
Washington also said that it had designated the Tran de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles cartels as armed, non-State terrorist groups and that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States.
‘(We have) reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defence and in defence of others,’ the US representative said, adding that while attacks so far have been narrow in scope, Washington stands ready to carry out further strikes as needed.
He said that his country does not recognise President Maduro ‘or his cronies’ as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.
Briefing the Security Council, Miroslav Jenca, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, described an increased United States military presence in the Caribbean, heightening ongoing tensions between the US and Venezuela.
He said the United Nations has not been able to independently confirm US statements that it had killed several people during its operations to stop the flow of illegal drugs.
‘We continue to emphasize the need for all efforts to counter transnational organized crime to be conducted in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter,’ he said, reiterating the call for de-escalation and urged the parties to avoid any actions that may threaten international peace and security.
‘We call for a constructive dialogue and a peaceful resolution of differences,’ he said.