‘Don’t mess’ with Venezuela, Maduro threatens Britain
VENEZUELA’S President Nicolas Maduro has warned Britain “don’t mess” with his country as he deployed thousands of troops in response to a Royal Navy ship sent to the region.
Mr Maduro called Britain a “decadent, rotten, ex-empire” as he ordered troops into defensive manoeuvres ahead of HMS Trent arriving to support neighbouring Guyana in a territorial row.
Britain said on Sunday that it would divert the patrol vessel to the former British colony, amid the dispute between the two South American countries over the oil-rich Essequibo region.
A Guyana foreign ministry source told AFP that the ship was due to arrive Friday and would be in its territory for “less than a week” for open sea defense exercises. The ship will not dock in Georgetown.
Mr Maduro said he was launching “a joint action of a defensive nature in response to the provocation and threat of the United Kingdom against peace and the sovereignty of our country.”
The television broadcast accompanying Mr Maduro’s announcement showed fighter jets participating in the
Venezuelan exercise, as well as ships and ocean patrol vessels.
The Venezuelan government earlier asked Guyana, in a statement, “to take immediate action for the withdrawal of the HMS Trent, and to refrain from involving military powers in the territorial controversy.”
Mr Maduro claims that Essequibo – which makes up about two-thirds of Guyana’s territory – is actually Venezuelan land, a decades-old contention that has flared since massive oil deposits were found in its waters.
The flare-up has raised fears in the region of a potential conflict over the remote area of 160,000 square kilometres (62,000 square miles).
The South American neighbors agreed earlier this month not to resort to force to settle the dispute, during a meeting between Mr Maduro and Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali.
“We believe in diplomacy, in dialogue, in peace,” said Mr Maduro.
“But no one should threaten Venezuela, no one should mess with Venezuela. We are men of peace, we are a people of peace, but we are warriors and this threat is unacceptable for any sovereign country,” he said.
“The threat of the decadent, rotten, ex-empire of the United Kingdom is unacceptable.”
A UK foreign minister, David Rutley, visited Guyana earlier this month to reiterate that sovereign borders “must be respected” and that London would work internationally “to ensure the territorial integrity of Guyana is upheld”.
Mr Maduro’s government held a controversial referendum on Dec 3 in which 95 per cent of voters, according to officials in the hard-line leftist government, supported declaring Venezuela the rightful owner of Essequibo.
He has since started legal manoeuvres to create a Venezuelan province in Essequibo and ordered the state oil company to issue licenses for extracting crude in the region. Mr Ali branded the moves a “grave threat to international peace and security.”
Earlier this month the United States announced joint military flight drills with Guyana, which it said were part of “routine engagement and operations to enhance security partnership” between the two countries. Antony Blinken, the US secretary of sate, told Mr Ali that he had the country’s “unwavering support for Guyana’s sovereignty”.
Growing tensions saw the United Nations hold an emergency behindclosed-doors meeting of the Security Council. It was asked to intervene by Guyana’s foreign minister, Hugh Todd, who said Venezuela’s conduct “plainly constitutes a direct threat to Guyana’s peace and security, and more broadly threatens the peace and security of the entire region”.
The British Government condemned the move. “Venezuela’s actions against Guyana are unjustified and should cease. The border between both countries was settled in 1899 through international arbitration and we continue to support the territorial integrity of Guyana – an important regional ally and Commonwealth partner,” a spokesman said.