United States (US) Ambassador Nicole Theriot has affirmed that as Washington and Georgetown continue to strengthen their security partnership, Guyana will become an increasingly difficult environment for narcotraffickers to operate. The Ambassador made the remarks during the Energy Perspectives podcast on Monday, where she expressed: “let’s be honest, Guyana is a really attractive target now with all of the revenues from oil and gas, with all of the development and growth that’s happening. If I were a criminal, I’d be like, ‘oh, I’ll go into Guyana’.”
Nonetheless, she noted that the US stands ready to help Guyana address these problems. Already, she highlighted that the two Governments have strengthened partnerships, with US law enforcement bodies working closely with local agencies like the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) and the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU). She also pointed out how Guyana’s participation in the Shield of the Americas and the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition is strengthening regional efforts to combat narcotrafficking.
“I think everyone now knows that we invited Guyana to become a founding member of the Shield of the Americas and of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition. It’s a very elite group. It’s a small group. And we chose Guyana to be, and you of course, accepted to be members of that because we believe that we can work with you to build capacity and you can become a true partner in countering narcotics trafficking, in countering online scams that are taking advantage of so many people, especially the elderly, and to stopping transnational criminal organisations from invading this part of the world,” the US diplomat explained.
Strengthening partnership
Specifically, she said the US and Guyana have been strengthening their partnership in the area of maritime and air domain awareness. “That sounds really, really fancy, but it just means that you know what’s happening in your waters and in your airspace,” she noted. In fact, Ambassador Theriot noted that when it comes to these matters, “Guyana is actually putting its money where its mouth is.”
“For the counter narcotics, you’ll recall that when Deputy Secretary of State Landau was here last month, he announced US$2 million that the US Department of State was going to contribute to a cost sharing initiative for air domain awareness. So, we are going to contribute US$2 million, and the Government of Guyana will contribute as well. And together, we will increase your air domain awareness, which means all those drug flights that we’ve seen increase over the last few months and the last year, we’re going to be able to know exactly where they’re coming from and where they’re going. And we’re going to be able to hopefully, when we develop a little further, to stop that. So, Guyana will no longer be an easy place to pass through from Venezuela to Suriname, because we all know that’s where they’re going. And so, that’s a really important piece of the security here,” she emphasised.
Similar partnerships are being built in the area of maritime domain awareness.
“For several years now, the Department of War through our office at the embassy has been working very closely with the GDF on maritime domain awareness. We have a coastal radar system that we’ve given to the GDF, and they’re able to monitor all of the ships within a certain range of your coast. And so that, again, you can’t address something if you don’t know what’s going on. And both for the air and maritime domain awareness, we’re working together to increase Guyana’s ability to stop these transnational criminal organisations and drug traffickers,” Ambassador Theriot added.
Fighting criminal networks
Guyana recently joined the US and more than a dozen countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region in renewing their commitment to collectively fighting criminal networks in the Western Hemisphere through a number of coordinated actions including imposing sanctions and other measures on at least 24 narco-terrorist groups.
This pledge was made at the second meeting of the ‘Shield of the Americas’ – a coalition formed by US President Donald Trump back in March 2026 to combat narco-terrorism in the hemisphere. President Dr Irfaan Ali was among the leaders at the meeting convened by President Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. During the meeting, 15 of the 19 member states at the meeting adopted a Joint Communiqué declaring their intent to strengthen the resilience of the Western Hemisphere based on three pillars – economic, security and multilateral coordination. Guyana along with US, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago were among the nations to declare their intention to further strengthen the resilience of the region.
The leaders agreed to jointly undertake a series of actions in accordance with their respective international and domestic legal obligations. These include defending their economies by enhancing economic cooperation; exploring investment screening mechanisms; safeguarding critical minerals supply chains through diversified and reliable sourcing; and promoting trusted supplier regulations for digital infrastructure to be applied on a non-discriminatory basis.
Durable security
Moreover, they recognised that durable security requires economic development, stable jobs, and tangible opportunities for their people, and that economic sovereignty is successfully defended when the capital entering nations is transparent and verifiable. Another key area that Shield of Americas member states agreed to work on is defending democratic governance against armed narco-terrorist networks. This will see them coordinating on sanctions, designations and financial actions against terrorists and criminals, as well as expanding civilian law enforcement, and supplying humanitarian and messaging assistance to defend popular will. They also pledged to defend and promote mutual respect for national sovereignty and each nation’s self-determination through multilateral fora to coordinate and advance shared objectives and proposals, such as catalysing international enforcement actions against transnational organised criminal groups or pursuing needed reforms to multilateral organisations. In further recognition of the immediate and universally shared threat in the hemisphere posed by transnational narco-terrorist organisations, the Shield of Americas members announced the first joint action under the newly announced pillars. This will see individual and collective action to confront the scourge of narco-terrorism.
This first joint action will focus on 24 criminal organisations operating in countries within the hemisphere. They are: The 24 groups: Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13); Tren de Aragua; Carteles Unidos; Cartel del Golfo (Gulf Cartel); La Nueva Familia Michoacana; Cartel del Noreste; Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG); Cartel de Sinaloa; Gran Grif; Viv Ansanm; Los Lobos; Los Choneros; Barrio 18; Cartel de Los Soles; Clan del Golfo; Primeiro Comando da Capital; Comando Vermelho; Chone Killers; Los Viagras; Juarez Cartel (La Línea); FARC Dissident Groups including FARC-Estado Mayor Central, FARC-Segunda Marquetalia, or aliases, affiliates, and successor groups; ELN; Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso); and Los Tiguerones.
In order to facilitate these new actions, the Shield of Americas intends to formally engage President of the Organisation of American States (OAS) Permanent Council on the establishment of an Organ of Consultation under Articles 6 and 13 of the Inter-American Treaty on Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty).
Once the formal meeting of the Organ of Consultation is convoked, the coalition intend to participate at the ministerial level to consider adopting a resolution promoting and facilitating collective action against narco-terrorist organisations under the Rio Treaty.
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