Com­mon­wealth Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al Pa­tri­cia Scot­land KC has called on Venezuela to re­spect Guyana’s sov­er­eign­ty af­ter a Venezue­lan coast guard ves­sel en­tered Guyanese wa­ters on 1 March 2025.

Pres­i­dent Ir­faan Ali re­port­ed that the ves­sel ap­proached le­gal op­er­a­tions and false­ly claimed they were in "dis­put­ed in­ter­na­tion­al wa­ters." He de­mand­ed that “Guyana’s sov­er­eign­ty and ter­ri­to­r­i­al in­tegri­ty is re­spect­ed and ho­n­oured.”

Pa­tri­cia Scot­land said the in­ci­dent “runs counter to the spir­it” of past agree­ments and urged Venezuela to “re­spect in­ter­na­tion­al law” and ad­here to the ICJ’s 2023 rul­ing. She praised Guyana’s re­sponse, say­ing it showed “re­straint and re­spon­si­bil­i­ty.”