Venezuela’s President Maduro announces maneuvers in the border dispute with Guyana

The conflict between Venezuela and Guyana has been simmering for weeks. A majority in Venezuela voted to declare the Essequibo region a Venezuelan province. Great Britain sends a warship – a provocation for Venezuela.

Tensions between Britain and Venezuela continue to escalate. After Britain sent a warship off the coast of Venezuela’s neighboring country Guyana, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced a military exercise with more than 5,600 soldiers on Thursday.

Maduro said the “defensive” exercise was a response “to the United Kingdom’s provocation and threat against the peace and sovereignty of our country.” Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali said neither Venezuela nor any other country has any fear of activity within Guyana’s territory or waters. The South American country has no ambitions or intentions to covet something that does not belong to us.

British warship scheduled to arrive today

The background is a border dispute between Venezuela and Guyana over the oil-rich Essequibo region. Britain announced on Sunday that it would send a warship. The British Ministry of Defense said the patrol boat “HMS Trent” would visit “regional ally and Commonwealth partner Guyana” in December.

Citing sources from Guyana’s Foreign Ministry, AFP news agency reports that the boat is expected to arrive today. It should remain in the territory of the South American country for “less than a week” for defensive exercises on the open sea.

Agreement on renunciation of violence

Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López described the deployment of the British ship as a “provocation”. He also referred to an agreement reached in mid-December between Maduro and Guyana’s President Ali, in which both sides pledged to refrain from violence.

Any controversy surrounding territory claimed by Venezuela in Guyana should be resolved in accordance with international law, including a 1966 agreement with the United Kingdom on the then colony of British Guiana, the joint statement said. The current boundaries were established in 1899 in an arbitration award from a tribunal in Paris, initiated by the USA and Great Britain.

Venezuela relies on an agreement with the United Kingdom from 1966 – a few months before the then colony of British Guiana became independent. This provided for a negotiated solution to the dispute. The International Court of Justice is considering the case at Guyana’s request. However, Venezuela rejects its jurisdiction.

Oil deposits discovered in 2015

Before the agreement, tensions over the Essequibo region in Guyana had escalated massively. At the beginning of December, participants in a non-binding referendum in Venezuela voted 96 percent in favor of Essequibo’s membership in Venezuela, according to government figures. Shortly afterwards, Maduro called for the area to be declared a Venezuelan province by law and for oil production licenses to be issued.

Around 125,000 of the 800,000 residents of the former British and Dutch colony of Guyana live in Essequibo. Venezuela’s desires increased after the oil company ExxonMobil discovered an oil deposit in the area in 2015. In October, another significant oil discovery was made in the region.