Britain has been warned not to 'mess with Venezuela' as President Nicolas Maduro condemned Britain's 'decadent, rotten, ex-empire' for sending a navy warship to protect Guyana.
President Maduro on Thursday ordered more than 5,600 troops to take part in a “defensive” exercise near the border with Guyana, in response to Britain sending a warship to the area.
Maduro said he was “launching a joint action of a defensive nature in response to Britain's provocation and threat against the peace and sovereignty of our country.”
Britain said on Sunday it would divert the patrol vessel HMS Trent to Guyana, a former British colony, amid the South American country's simmering territorial dispute with neighboring Venezuela over the oil-rich Essequibo region.
The South American neighbors agreed not to use force to settle the dispute during a meeting between Maduro and Ali earlier this month.
“We believe in diplomacy, in dialogue, in peace,” Maduro said.
“But no one should threaten Venezuela, no one should tamper with Venezuela. We are a people of peace, but we are fighters and this threat is unacceptable to any sovereign country,” he said.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered more than 5,600 soldiers on Thursday to take part in a 'defensive' exercise near the border with Guyana (File Photo)
HMS Trent – a ship the government says is being used for 'defence diplomacy' – will take part in joint exercises with Guyana later this month
“The threat from decadent, rotten, former empire Britain is unacceptable.”
A source from Guyana's Foreign Ministry told AFP on condition of anonymity that the ship from Britain would arrive on Friday and would be in its territory for “less than a week” for open sea defense exercises. The ship will not dock in Georgetown.
The television broadcast accompanying Maduro's announcement showed fighter jets taking part in the Venezuelan exercise, as well as ships and ocean patrol vessels.
The Venezuelan government previously asked Guyana in a statement to “take immediate action for the withdrawal of HMS Trent, and to refrain from involving military forces in the territorial controversy.”
Guyanese President Irfaan Ali sought to ease tensions, saying Thursday that “neither Venezuela nor any other state has anything to fear from activities within the sovereign territory or waters of Guyana.”
'We have no ambitions or intentions to covet what is not ours. We are fully committed to peaceful relations with our neighbors and all countries in our region,” he said in a statement on Facebook, sending “best wishes to the people of Venezuela, our neighbors.”
Guyana's Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo previously said the HMS Trent visit was part of “long-planned” and “routine” measures to build up the country's defenses.
Guyana and Venezuela agreed earlier this month to avoid any use of force and not to escalate tensions in the long-running dispute. Pictured Guyana (file photo)
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during the notification ceremony for the referendum on the future of a disputed territory with Guyana, in Caracas, Venezuela, on December 4, 2023
Venezuela published a new map earlier this month showing Esequiba under Venezuelan control
Maduro claims that Essequibo – which makes up about two-thirds of Guyana's territory – is actually Venezuelan land, a decades-old claim that has flared up since vast oil deposits were discovered in Guyana's waters.
The rising tensions have raised fears in the region of a possible conflict over the remote 160,000 square kilometers (62,000 sq mi) territory.
A British Foreign Secretary, David Rutley, visited Guyana earlier this month and reiterated that sovereign borders “must be respected” and that London would work internationally “to ensure that Guyana's territorial integrity is maintained.”
Maduro's government held a controversial referendum on December 3 in which 95 percent of voters, according to officials in the hard-line left-wing government, supported declaring Venezuela the rightful owner of Essequibo.
He has since begun legal maneuvers to create a Venezuelan province in Essequibo and ordered the state oil company to issue permits for crude oil extraction in the region.
Guyana's Ali has labeled the measures a “serious threat to international peace and security.”