Guyana will not surrender territory or natural resources to foreign aggressors – Pres Ali

In the face of growing threats to the country, President Irfaan Ali has declared that Guyana will not give up an inch of the sovereignty territory nor any of its natural patrimony.

Speaking at the commissioning of a new aircraft for the Guyana Defence Force’s Air Corps on Thursday, the Head of State pointed out that this is a new age where the lines between traditional threats and new-age dangers have blurred.
“The threats we face are not only on our borders; they’re above us, around us, and beneath our seas. Our natural resources – our oil, our gas, our gold, our bauxite, our forests, our fisheries, and our biodiversity – have made Guyana the envy of many. Let’s not pretend otherwise. The eyes of the world are upon us, not just watching but watching closely,” the Guyanese leader posited.
Against this backdrop, President Ali, who is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, noted that more than having resources is the ability to develop them safely and sustainably, and sovereignty is key to doing this.
“That is why we must safeguard what is ours, because we cannot develop what we cannot defend. We cannot grow what we cannot guard. We cannot produce what we cannot protect. We cannot build prosperity on a foundation of vulnerability… We shall not surrender our territory and its resources to foreign aggressors. That will never happen under my watch; not while this Government is in office, not while the people of this nation are standing together in defence of our patrimony. We are going to protect our national sovereignty,” the Head of State stressed.
On this note, President Ali assured that the protection will come through enhanced operational capacity, with defence diplomacy and by building strong, credible security partnerships with countries that share the same values, respect Guyana’s independence, and are willing to help repel any foreign threat.
“I want to make it very clear that Guyana is nobody’s soft target. And the Government is not blinking; we are vigilant – which is why the Air Corps is not some add-on or afterthought; it is front and centre in our national security strategy,” the President noted.

GDF Air Corps
In addition, President Ali underscored the importance of the GDF Air Corps, now equipped with six aircraft over the past five years, in protecting Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), where over 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent have been discovered and production activities are ongoing in the Stabroek Block by United States oil major ExxonMobil and its partners.
“The Air Corps has a critical role to play in protecting our Exclusive Economic Zone, our vast maritime assets, our hydrocarbon resources, and yes, our fisheries. This is why we need a strong and impregnable Air Corps. The Air Corps is our eyes in the sky, our aerospace investment, our wings across the sea, and our safety net when nature threatens. It is the difference between being vulnerable and being vigilant,” the Head of State noted.
Since the discovery of oil offshore Guyana in 2015, Venezuela has heightened its claims to Guyana’s sovereign territory. The Spanish-speaking nation is laying claims to more than two-thirds of Guyana’s landmass – the mineral-rich Essequibo region – as well as the oil-rich EEZ.

Diplomatic defence
While Guyana has approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a final settlement of the decades-long border controversy with its neighbour and the matter is still pending, Guyana continues to face heightened aggression and threats from Caracas.
The Ali-led People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has been pursuing a ‘diplomatic defence’, and one of its major allies in these efforts is the United States.
The US’s longstanding support for Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity has been further bolstered by the fact that the oil-rich Stabroek Block operator is a US-based company.
During a visit to Georgetown back in March, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had declared that, “It will be a very bad day for the Venezuelan regime if they were to attack Guyana or attack ExxonMobil or anything like that. It would be a very bad day, a very bad week for them. And it would not end well for them.”
Over the years, Guyana has been strengthening military cooperation with the US, as well as several other countries around the world – something that has upset the Nicolás Maduro regime.
In fact, during Rubio’s March visit, Guyana and the US signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen collaboration in areas such as countering narcotics and the fight against transnational organised crime and strengthening security and defence cooperation.

Security Cooperation
Under that security cooperation, the US recently raised concerns about how illicit activities such as gold smuggling pose threats to the region by funding the Maduro regime.
“Only [June 27, 2025], the US reminded all of its partners about the serious threat with Venezuela, as it relates to gold smuggling. And we have received that advisory… And we want you to know that we are putting enormous resources into ensuring that the threat of illicit gold smuggling that could help to empower or safeguard undemocratic forces is uprooted with our partnership,” President Ali stated at a reception hosted by the US Embassy in Georgetown last month.
Local authorities have long suspected that Venezuela is smuggling gold into Guyana to be laundered through various networks here.
In recent years, there has been a widespread crackdown on gold smuggling in Guyana with a series of operations targeting foreign nationals suspected of being involved in unlawful mining activities here.