Ali urges GDF to guard against regional “chess play”, be aware of “most strategic” partners

Last Updated on Thursday, 13 February 2025, 22:36 by Writer

President Irfaan Ali on Thursday advised Guyana Defence Force (GDF) officers to pay close attention to “chess play” in the region, even as he named the United States (US) as a “strategic partner”.

“We have also seen what I describe as a philosophical chess playing among different members in the region, a philosophical chess play that has security implications and we must be able to understand what is driving these philosophical chess movements that are occurring,” he told the opening of the Guyana Defence Force’s 2025 Annual Officers’ Conference.

The President told the military officers that they need to be critical thinkers so that they could ultimately offer “me the best possible advice” after taking several factors in the global arena. “If you are captured in a certain philosophical mindset, we have to understand the exposure it brings to the country,” he said.

Dr Ali did not name those players, but his cautionary tone comes as the Prime Ministers of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines continue to enjoy cozy relations with Venezuela, despite deep-seated concerns by several Latin American and Western Nations that the Nicolás Maduro-led administration rigged last July’s elections.

The Guyanese leader’s comment was also made less than one month after the Donald Trump-led US administration secured the release of three Americans from a Venezuelan prison after a meeting between a Trump envoy and Mr Maduro in Caracas, despite US concerns about democracy there. Venezuela has also agreed to take back its nationals who were being deported by the US.

The President of Guyana described the US as “one of our most important strategic partners” which now has a new focus on the Western Hemisphere with an important philosophy of securing borders and protecting assets. He said Washington’s approach has serious implications for the movement of migrants in search of economic opportunities. “This poses significant opportunity and challenge because migrants’ movement will take a different form, shape and destination,” he said. Dr Ali asked the military officers to determine where in the region those opportunities and prosperity are.

He said the GDF’s National Defence Institute (NDI) is key to the military’s understanding of the philosophy, problems of the region and the development of ideas.

Dr Ali asked the GDF to intensify its efforts to dismantle transnational criminal networks by leveraging intelligence, technology and strategic partnerships. “These operations must never see a welcoming home in Guyana,” he said.