Democrats, Republicans unite in support of Guyana’s sovereignty against Venezuelan threats

In a rare display of bipartisan solidarity, both Democratic and Republican members of the United States Congress have voiced strong support for Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, pushing back sharply against Venezuela’s continued egregious claims over the Essequibo region.

Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the chamber’s senior Democrat on foreign policy, issued a direct call to the Trump administration this week, urging it to stand firmly behind Guyana. “Any attempt by Venezuela’s interim government — whose party lost the 2024 elections — to unilaterally claim authority over Essequibo is unacceptable,” Meeks wrote on X. “The Trump administration should make it clear that the United States stands with our democratic partner, Guyana.”

The statement came as ICJ hearings on the longstanding border controversy concluded in The Hague, where Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said before the court that Venezuela would not relinquish what it describes as its historical and legitimate rights to the territory.

Meeks’ remarks align closely with those of Republican Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar of Florida, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

Writing on X, Salazar praised Guyana’s stewardship of its oil revenues, and concluded that Venezuela’s acting president should stop threatening Guyana and start learning from it.

That the Ranking Member and a senior Republican subcommittee chair are now speaking in unison on Essequibo is significant. The House Foreign Affairs Committee has been a frequent battleground for partisan disagreement in recent years, making its bipartisan posture on Guyana a clear signal to Caracas about the breadth of congressional sentiment in Washington.

For Guyanese citizens, the bipartisan congressional chorus from Washington represents a meaningful affirmation that the country’s sovereignty enjoys support across the aisle in the world’s most powerful democracy — and that Caracas will find no easy path in its campaign against Guyana’s territorial integrity.