St Vincent Opposition party (ULP) issued a pair of scathing communiqués, showing a terminal breakdown in regional diplomacy. The revelations contained in these documents suggest the rules are no longer being bent—they are being entirely rewritten through raw, hegemonic power.
The ULP’s statements serve as a chilling exploration of a new era of unilateralism. What happens to the security of the Western Hemisphere when the foundational doctrines of sovereign equality and non-interference are discarded in favor of military and economic coercion? By linking the recent escalations against Venezuela and Cuba, the ULP identifies a synchronized, two-pronged assault that threatens to transform a “Zone of Peace” into a theater of renewed imperial control.
The first shockwave hit on January 3, 2026, with the U.S. military’s orchestrated “kidnapping” of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros and his wife, Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro. This was not a standard diplomatic expulsion or a result of international litigation; it was a direct military seizure. The ULP has unequivocally characterized this as a “blatant violation of international law,” moving the needle from mere diplomatic pressure to an extrajudicial abduction that undermines the very concept of a rules-based international order.
This event signals a radical shift in the global order. Under President Donald Trump’s declaration of an intent to “run” and control Venezuela for the “foreseeable future,” the United States has transitioned into a policy of direct military management of a sovereign state. Furthermore, the unilateral expropriation of Venezuela’s oil resources violates the UN Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, which affirms that every people has permanent sovereignty over their natural resources. This is no longer about regime change—it is about the total dismantling of resource sovereignty.
The ULP condemns the declaration by United States President Donald Trump that he intends to “run” and control Venezuela for the foreseeable future.
If the seizure of Venezuela was the opening salvo, the January 29, 2026, Executive Order “Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of Cuba” is the economic strangulation intended to finish the job. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s role in this escalation highlights a terrifying mechanism: the order imposes “draconian economic penalties” on any foreign country supplying oil to Cuba. This extraterritorial reach turns global energy markets into a weapon of political submission.
The ULP asserts that this policy is a deliberate attempt to “manufacture a humanitarian crisis” that will “shock the conscience of civilised peoples.” The oil embargo is projected to be “devastating” across the following sectors:
• Electricity Generation: Near-total collapse of the power grid.
• Healthcare: The forced closure of hospitals.
• Industry and Infrastructure: The shuttering of factories, halting of transportation, and the destruction of the tourism sector.
• Food Security: The total devastation of domestic food production.
This strategy is not a policy of containment; it is a calculated attempt to “starve the Cuban people into submission.” By targeting the literal survival of civilians, the administration has abandoned the “finest traditions of the American people” in favor of an inhumane policy that will leave a “lasting stain on America’s global leadership.”
Perhaps the most “shocking” takeaway is the reported extrajudicial violence occurring in the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago. The ULP has raised the alarm regarding the U.S. military’s practice of killing alleged drug traffickers in neutral waters. While the ULP maintains a zero-tolerance stance on narcotics and arms trafficking, they highlight a chilling legal reality: these are “summary executions of human beings without trial.”
The ULP’s legal nuance is devastating: these individuals are being executed for “alleged crimes that would not carry the death penalty even if proven.” This represents a grave abuse of power and a total abandonment of due process. For a region that was declared a “Zone of Peace” by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in 2014, these military actions suggest the Caribbean is being treated as a lawless combat zone rather than a community of sovereign nations governed by the rule of law.
The ULP’s central thesis is that the Caribbean is currently “bracketed” by assaults on sovereignty and “onerous external policy demands.” For small, vulnerable states, international law is not a luxury—it is the only “shield” they possess against military domination and externally imposed regime change. Without the protection of the UN Charter, small states lack the military might to resist hegemony.
The silence from regional bodies like CARICOM and CELAC is described as a “dangerous precedent.” The ULP warns that failing to speak with a unified voice risks “inviting further interventions.” They point to the overwhelming international consensus as a reminder of the region’s historical strength.
On October 29, 2025, every CARICOM member state voted in favour of the United Nations resolution on the “Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Embargo Imposed by the United States of America Against Cuba,” marking the thirty-third consecutive year of overwhelming international support for that position.
The ULP has called for an immediate cessation of these illegal policies, the release of President Maduro and his wife, and a return to the principles of the UN Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States. Their demand is for a “mature conversation, without pre-conditions” between all relevant states to restore the Caribbean and Latin America as a “Zone of Peace.”