Maduro orders drills to counter ‘threat’ after British warship sent to Guyana

Bogota, Colombia: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has ordered his armed forces to conduct defensive exercises in the Eastern Caribbean after the United Kingdom sent a warship towards Guyana’s territorial waters after he claimed to have the right to annex part of his neighbouring country’s lands.

In a nationally televised address, Maduro said that 6000 Venezuelan troops, including air and naval forces, would conduct joint operations off the nation’s eastern coast – near the border with Guyana.

A woman sells fruit in front of a mural of a Venezuelan map with the Essequibo territory (bottom right of map) included and the words “All of Venezuela. Vote yes five time on December 3”, in Caracas.Credit: AP

Maduro described the impending arrival of British ship HMS Trent to Guyana’s shores as a “threat” to his country. He argued the ship’s deployment violated a recent agreement between the South American nations.

“We believe in diplomacy, in dialogue and in peace, but no one is going to threaten Venezuela,” Maduro said in a room accompanied by a dozen military commanders. “This is an unacceptable threat to any sovereign country in Latin America.”

Venezuela and Guyana are currently involved in a border dispute over the Essequibo, a sparsely populated region the size of Florida with vast oil deposits off its shores.

The region has been under Guyana’s control for decades, but in December, Venezuela relaunched its historical claim to the Essequibo through a referendum in which it asked its voters whether the Essequibo should be turned into a Venezuelan state.

As tensions over the region escalated, the leaders of both countries met on the Caribbean island of St Vincent, and signed an agreement which said they would solve their dispute through nonviolent means.

During the talks, however, Guyana’s President Irfan Ali said his nation reserved its right to work with its partners to ensure the defence of his country.

On Thursday, Guyanese officials described the visit of HMS Trent as a planned activity aimed at improving the nation’s defence capabilities and said the ship’s visit would continue as scheduled.

“Nothing that we do or have done is threatening Venezuela,” Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo told reporters in Georgetown, the nation’s capital.

The British ship HMS Trent has been sent to the waters off Guyana as tensions rise after Venezula revived a claim over part of Guyana’s territory.Credit: Shaun Roster/CC

HMS Trent is a patrol and rescue ship that was recently used to intercept drug traffickers off the West Coast of Africa. It can accommodate up to 30 sailors and a contingent of 18 marines, and is equipped with 30mm cannons and a landing pad for helicopters and drones.

The ship had been sent to Barbados in early December to intercept drug traffickers, but its mission was changed on December 24 when it was sent to Guyana. Authorities did not specify when it was expected to arrive off Guyana’s shores.

The British Defence Ministry said the ship would be conducting joint operations with Guyana’s defence forces.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with first lady Cilia Flores, centre, and Vice President Delcy Rodrigues.Credit: Bloomberg

The nation of 800,000 people has a small military that is made up of 3000 soldiers, 200 sailors and four small patrol boats known as Barracudas.

Venezuela says it was the victim of a land theft conspiracy in 1899, when Guyana was a British colony and arbitrators from Britain, Russia and the United States decided the boundary. The US represented Venezuela in part because the Venezuelan government had broken off diplomatic relations with Britain.

Venezuelan officials contend Americans and Europeans colluded to cheat their country out of the land. They also argue that an agreement among Venezuela, Britain and the colony of British Guiana signed in 1966 to resolve the dispute effectively nullified the original arbitration.

Guyana maintains the initial accord is legal and binding and asked the United Nations’ top court in 2018 to rule it as such, but a decision is years away. The century-old dispute was recently reignited with the discovery of oil in Guyana.

AP