Alarm! Venezuela moves troops to the border with Guyana
According to what was reported by the WSJ, Venezuela has begun to prepare to support its reasons by force by moving light tanks, patrol boats equipped with missiles and armored vehicles to the border between the two countries. A new crisis is quickly getting out of Biden's hands.
The deployment, visible in satellite images made public on Friday and in videos recently posted by the Venezuelan military on social media, represents a significant escalation in Caracas' attempts to gain some leverage over its neighbor's new energy reserves. This comes despite a written agreement reached in December between Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, which denounced the use of force and called for the establishment of a commission to resolve territorial disputes.
VENEZUELA – #BREAKING
UNUSUAL MOVEMENT OF THE VENEZOLAN ARMY
This night in Spain, the Venezuelan army deployed anti-aircraft batteries and Russian-made land-based missiles in the city of Güiria and other places. No if you know the reasons for a… pic.twitter.com/pnzh7P3HyJ
— _Mystery_ (@mysteryorigin) February 1, 2024
Since late last year, the Venezuelan government, which has an army of 150,000 active soldiers and modern weaponry supplied by its Russian ally, has increased its claims on the Essequibo, a mostly jungle-covered region that makes up two-thirds of Guyana.
The deployment emerges as Exxon managed to increase Guyana's oil production to 645,000 barrels per day, a level announced just three days ago. Guyana has a self-defense force of only 3,000 men and a population of 800,000.
Photos have emerged in the WSJ showing the creation of military camps and fords for military use in the area.
WSJ
“We are not surprised by Venezuela's bad faith,” Guyana's Foreign Ministry said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal in response to questions about the military deployment. “We are disappointed, not surprised.”
On Wednesday, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladímir Padrino accused Exxon of relying on the U.S. military for its security and using Guyana to its advantage.
“They will receive a proportional and strong response in the maritime area that rightfully belongs to Venezuela,” he wrote on X. “The Essequibo is ours!” In reality the issue is much more complex because partners in the exploitation of Guyana's offshore oil resources are the Chinese CNOOC and Chevron, which operates in Venezuela
Maduro's exercises, along with a referendum held in December in which he said millions of Venezuelans approve of the Essequibo seizure plans, have alarmed policymakers in the Biden administration, which is already grappling with crafting a response to the Venezuela's alliances with Russia, Iran and China.
In recent months, US officials from the Department of Defense and the White House have visited Guyana's capital, Georgetown, for talks aimed at increasing cooperation. President Ali said his government will soon purchase American helicopters, drones and other defense equipment.
“Supporting Guyana to strengthen its defense capacity as it continues to put a huge amount of oil on the market is something that directly interests us,” Juan Gonzalez, a senior adviser to Biden, told Colombian reporters on Monday, a day after meeting the President of Guyana at Georgetown. “We certainly don't want to escalate tensions, but we have a strategic relationship with Guyana.”
Furthermore, it will be interesting to see what the response will be from Brazil, which, just recently, hosted a meeting between the two parties and which had previously been interested in the protection of Guyana.
According to some analysts, Maduro does not want to invade Guyana, but to force Exxon, Chevron, CNOOC and Guyana to sit at the negotiating table and cede part of the wealth obtained from oil, which is enormous for the country's small population. However, a crisis that seemed dormant is once again making headlines in the newspapers.
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new Economic Scenarios articles.
The article Alarm! Venezuela moves troops to border with Guyana comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/allarme-il-venezuela-sposta-truppe-al-confine-con-la-guyana/ on Fri, 09 Feb 2024 19:22:21 +0000.