Venezuela holds defensive military exercises following British naval deployment near Guyana

Venezuela holds defensive military exercises following British naval deployment near Guyana

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has ordered his armed forces to conduct defensive exercises in the Eastern Caribbean after the United Kingdom sent a warship towards Guyana’s territorial waters after he claimed to have the right to annex part of his neighbouring country’s lands.

In a nationally televised address, Maduro said that 6000 Venezuelan troops, including air and naval forces, would conduct joint operations off the nation’s eastern coast – near the border with Guyana.

“We believe in diplomacy, in dialogue and in peace, but no one is going to threaten Venezuela,” Maduro said in a room accompanied by a dozen military commanders. “This is an unacceptable threat to any sovereign country in Latin America.”

Maduro described the impending arrival of British ship HMS Trent to Guyana’s shores as a “threat” to his country.
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