British Warship Arrives in Guyana, Amid Ongoing Border Dispute with Venezuela
Brazil gets nervous as Venezuela will hold military exercises off its shores in response.
Early in December, I reported that a small number of Venezuelans went to the polls to approve a referendum called by the government of President Nicolás Maduro to claim sovereignty over a resource-rich area of neighboring Guyana, arguing that the region was stolen when the border was drawn more than a century ago.
Subsequently, Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo said that Guyana would remain vigilant, and the United Nations’ top court ordered Venezuela to stop any action that would alter Guyana’s control over a disputed territory.
A British warship has arrived in Guyana as part of a military exercise. British officials are also pushing back against Venezuela’s claims to Essequibo, an oil-rich area within the region.
The HMS Trent’s visit led Venezuela to begin military exercises a day earlier in the eastern Caribbean near its border with Guyana as the Venezuelan government presses its claim to a huge swath of its smaller neighbor.
…The dispute is over Essequibo, a sparsely populated region that is the size of Florida and rich in oil and minerals. Venezuela has long claimed it was cheated out of the territory when Europeans and the U.S. set the border.The U.K. Defense Ministry has said that the ship is visiting Guyana as part of a series of engagements in the region and that the vessel will conduct training exercises with Guyana’s military.
On its account on X, formerly Twitter, the ship posted photos of sailors welcoming Britain’s ambassador to Guyana and the chief of staff of Guyana’s Defense Force, Brig. Gen. Omar Khan. They were hosted at a formal lunch and provided with a tour of the ship’s capabilities.
Today we were privileged to welcome onboard the Chief Of Defence Staff for Guyana, Brigadier Omar Khan, the British High Commissioner to Guyana, Mrs Jane Miller OBE, and a number of other dignitaries. @RoyalNavy @Janemiller37 #TeamTrent #FwdDeployed pic.twitter.com/jWE5jGK8Dp
— HMS Trent (@HMSTrent) December 29, 2023
In response, Maduro is claiming the arrival of HMS Trent is a threat to Venezuela and has ordered military exercises in response.
In a nationally televised address on Thursday, Maduro said that 6,000 Venezuelan troops, including air and naval forces, will conduct joint operations off the nation’s eastern coast — near the border with Guyana.
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 violates 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 where he was accompanied by a dozen military commanders. “This is an unacceptable threat to any sovereign country in Latin America.
BREAKING:
Maduro orders the Venezuelan military to conduct ‘defensive actions’ in the Atlantic in response to the arrival of the British Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Trent arriving in Guyana’s waters.
5000 Venezuelan troops are called uo for exercises pic.twitter.com/hWkelhG0xf
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 29, 2023
Neighboring Brazil is getting nervous about the military maneuvers.
“The Brazilian government believes that military demonstrations of support for any party must be avoided, so that the ongoing dialogue process can produce results,” the Brazilian foreign ministry said in a statement. It urged all parties to “contain themselves” and resume talks.
…Western diplomats have urged the government of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has maintained friendly relations with Maduro, to ease tensions in the Guyana border dispute.
Brazil said on Friday the “Argyle Declaration for Dialogue and Peace” signed by Guyana and Venezuela on Dec. 14 was “a milestone in efforts to peacefully address the issue.”
“The two countries also agreed to cooperate to avoid incidents on the ground and unilateral measures that could lead to an escalation of the situation,” Brazil’s statement said.
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” Brazilian foreign ministry said in a statement. It urged all parties to “contain themselves” and resume talks.”
The talks were settled a century ago.
Britain is phasing out fossil fuels like other EU nations. They could be producing more from the north sea but won’t because of climate hysteria. Why do they want to keep their options open on other side of world?
Because it isn’t about fossil fuels for them, which they don’t get anyway. Why would they care whether Guyana or Venezuela has them? For them it’s about an allied nation being threatened by a hostile nation.
BP activity in guyana.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/bp-wins-contract-market-guyanas-share-oil-production-2022-11-25/
So? What has that got to do with the UK? BP is a private, multinational company. The UK does not get anything out of Guyana’s oil exports, so from a purely financial perspective why should it care whether Venezuela steals them? Why would it lift a finger to prevent that, if not for non-financial considerations?
The UK’s involvement is interesting and raises more questions than answers. Could the UK’s Royal Navy involvement be at the request of NATO or possibly the United States?
Ghostrider,
It is a former British colony/possession. The Brits have repeatedly pushed back on these territorial claims of Venezuela.
Britain maintains so called “mutual defense treaty” with former colony, and in return british company gets priority position developing natural resources of said former colony. While the former colony would never really ever be obligated to come to the defense of britain, so its not really “mutual”. But that allows for britain to virtue signal and maintain the charade that it is in compliance with the mandates of climate hysteria at home, while developing those resources elsewhere.
British companies do not get “priority position”. The UK’s involvement is simply because Guyana is an allied country under threat. The UK and Guyana are both members of the Commonwealth of Nations, which doesn’t mean they have to come to each other’s aid, but it does make it natural for them to do so.
So… “Our Utopia works so well, we’re gonna bomb the hell out of you, to take your stuff and bring you down to our level.”
I realize that you did not generate the picture of the British warship and the caption on it above; but I feel I have to note that the text says that the warship that was sent was HMS Trent. The Trent is a 2,000 tonne “offshore patrol vessel” that is smaller than some private yachts, and used to basically control fishing vessels in Brit waters. It has pretty much no capability of projecting power or stopping Venezuelan aggression. Not much of a deterrent to Venezuelan action.
The ship pictured is a Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier of 65,000 tonnes and with an air wing that can do damage a long ways away. Whoever sent the picture implied a British capability and commitment that is not necessarily there.
Subotai Bahadur
HMS Trent:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Trent_(P224)#/media/File:HMS_Trent_(P224)_entered_Portsmouth_for_the_first_time_-_1.jpg
Britain is as good at projecting real power as the US/s. I guess the Brits didn’t read how the Athens-Sparta war started when Athens fielded a reduced naval presence during a snit between two vassal states of Sparta and Athens… and Athens lost against the vassal and later Sparta. Sending a token target is sad…. if things heated up… what could Britain do? Nothing short of nuclear as they are a hollow shadow of what they were during the Cold War.
If the UN were useful any time a nation threatens to invade a neighbor like this a dozen countries would be landing troops. Just enough to send a message.
“Border Dispute” seems like an extreme euphemism.
Venezuela is openly threatening to forcibly seize more than half of the territory of their smaller neighbor.
They feel empowered because FJBiden is on their side.
I think so too. FJB is buying oil from Venezuela
I hope this won’t become another Sheffield moment.
That war was well underway when the Sheffield was hit.
A typically feckless, emasculated, dithering, dim-witted and incompetent Biden/Dhimmi-crat Administration won’t show leadership against Venezuela’s bullying and belligerence (indeed, Biden has stupidly and indefensibly empowered and enriched the Venezuelan regime, by purchasing oil from it), so, Brazil and the U.K. commendably step up to fill the void.
Iran, Venezuela and China — the vile and despicable Biden is empowering and enriching all three malignant regimes, in true Dhimmi-crat fashion.