Venezuela Orders Military Exercise to Counter UK Deployment of Warships to Guyana

Venezuela has ordered the armed forces to hold military exercises in response to the UK’s decision to send a warship to support neighboring Guyana.

Military leaders said 5,600 soldiers would take part in defensive exercises on Venezuela’s eastern Caribbean and Atlantic coasts.

Earlier this month, Venezuelan voters backed the creation of a new state in oil-rich Essequibo which Guyana has administered the area for decades.

In a television address on Thursday, President Nicolás Maduro said the exercises were being launched in response to the provocation and threat of the United Kingdom against peace and the sovereignty of our country.

He added that the move was practically a military threat from London and broke the spirit of a recent agreement reached between Venezuela and Guyana not to use force to settle their dispute.

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Guyanese Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo said the ship’s presence was routine and part of building a defensive capability and not to invading Venezuela.

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 voters in the country whether the Essequibo should be turned into a Venezuelan state.

As tensions over the region escalated, the leaders of both countries met in 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 defense of his country.