- Venezuela rejects deployment of British Navy ship to Guyana
- Venezuela holds military exercise after UK sends warship to Guyana
- Venezuela announces troop deployment after UK stations warship off Guyana’s coast
As South American neighbours dispute a broad border region, President Nicolás Maduro ordered Venezuela’s armed forces to perform defence exercises in the Eastern Caribbean after the UK moved a warship towards Guyana’s territorial waters.
Maduro announced Thursday that 6,000 Venezuelan troops, including air and navy personnel, will conduct cooperative operations off the eastern coast near Guyana.
The British cruiser HMS Trent was a menace to Guyana, according to Maduro. He said the ship’s deployment breaches a recent South American accord.
Maduro told a dozen military leaders, “We believe in diplomacy, in dialogue and in peace, but no one is going to threaten Venezuela.” this is an intolerable danger to any Latin American independent country.”
In December, Venezuela reclaimed its historical claim to the Essequibo, which had been under Guyana’s sovereignty for decades. The referendum asked voters if the region should become a Venezuelan state.
In response to rising tensions, representatives from both countries struck a nonviolent accord to resolve their disagreement in St. Vincent, Caribbean.
However, Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali said his country would cooperate with partners to defend itself during the negotiations.
Guyanese officials stated Thursday that HMS Trent’s tour will continue as planned to improve the nation’s defence capabilities.
In Georgetown, Guyana’s capital, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo told reporters, “Nothing that we do or have done is threatening Venezuela.”
The patrol and rescue ship HMS Trent recently caught drug smugglers off Africa’s West Coast. It can hold 30 sailors and 18 marines and has 30 mm cannons and a helicopter/drone landing pad.
The ship was deployed to Barbados in early December to intercept drug smugglers, but switched to Guyana on Dec. 24. Authorities didn’t say when it will arrive off Guyana.
The UK Defence Ministry said the ship would work with Guyana’s military.
The 800,000-person nation has 3,000 soldiers, 200 sailors, and four Barracudas patrol vessels.
Venezuela alleges a land theft conspiracy in 1899, when British, Russian, and American arbitrators determined Guyana’s boundary. Venezuela severed off diplomatic relations with Britain, thus the U.S. represented it.
Venezuelan officials say Americans and Europeans cheated them off of land. They claim that a 1966 agreement between Venezuela, Britain, and British Guiana voided the arbitration.
Guyana sought the UN top court to pronounce the initial deal valid and binding in 2018, but a ruling is years away. Recently, the discovery of oil in Guyana rekindled the century-old debate.
