A milestone has just been reached between Venezuela and the United Kingdom. President Maduro on Thursday sent some 5,600 Venezuelan soldiers on military maneuvers of a “defensive” nature in “response to the provocation and threat from the United Kingdom”, which sent a warship to Guyana in the midst of the crisis on the Essequibo .
“I ordered the activation of a joint action of all the Bolivarian (Venezuelan) National Armed Forces in the Eastern Caribbean, on the Atlantic coast, a joint action of a defensive nature, in response to the provocation and threat of United Kingdom against the peace and sovereignty of our country,” President Maduro said during a radio and television broadcast, in which he showed images of warships and fighter jets patrolling the area.
Essequibo oil at stake
Just before Christmas, the United Kingdom announced the deployment of a military patrol ship in support of Guyana, in the midst of a crisis on the Essequibo, an oil-rich territory claimed by Venezuela, which reacted by denouncing a “provocation” .
The British patrol vessel “HMS Trent” will arrive in Guyana on Friday and is scheduled to participate in military exercises in Guyanese waters for “less than a week”. It is not planned for it to dock in Georgetown (the capital of Guyana) underlined a source from Guyanese Foreign Affairs.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López reacted to the announcement by denouncing it as a “provocation”. “A warship (…)? After that ? “, he wrote on the social network X. “Thousands of soldiers mobilized, what next? » his British counterpart will now be able to respond…