Venezuela will hold military exercises off its shores as a British warship heads to Guyana
President Nicolás Maduro ordered Venezuela’s armed forces to conduct defensive exercises in U.K. sent a warship toward Guyana’s territorial waters in a border dispute.
BOGOTA, Colombia — President Nicolás Maduro ordered Venezuela’s armed forces to conduct defensive exercises in the Eastern Caribbean after the United Kingdom sent a warship toward Guyana’s territorial waters as the South American neighbors dispute a large border region.
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.”
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.
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