The Ministry of Defense confirmed on Monday (4) that it had deployed 20 armored vehicles to reinforce security on the border with Venezuela.
Defense Minister José Múcio said that the operation was already planned to combat mining in the area, but that the vehicles could contribute to security in the area.
According to the minister, the equipment will be stationed at the Boa Vista barracks in Roraima a squadron that will be converted into a cavalry regiment with 130 soldiers.
Tensions are escalating in the region over the dispute between Venezuela and Guyana over the territory of Essequibo a large part of the country currently under Guyanese administration and home to large oil reserves.
The Venezuelan population supports the annexation of the territory of Guyana in a referendum
The Essequibo region covers an area of 160,000 km² around 70% of Guyana’s current area and has estimated oil reserves of 11 billion barrels. The area is larger than that of nations such as England, Cuba or Greece.
Venezuela considers Essequibo, also called Guayana Esequiba in Spanish, a “claimed territory” and generally shows it crossed out on its maps. Guyana, which controls and administers the territory, now has six of its ten administrative regions there.
The countries have been fighting over the region since 1841. In 2015, the dispute intensified when the American company ExxonMobil discovered oil fields in the region.
Guyana claims ownership of the territory because there is a report prepared in Paris in 1899 that established the current boundaries. At the time, Guyana was a territory of the United Kingdom.
Venezuela claims the territory belongs to it because this is stipulated in an agreement signed with the United Kingdom itself in 1966, before Guyana’s independence, which annulled the arbitration award and laid the basis for a negotiated settlement.
On Sunday (4) Venezuela organized a referendum in which 95% of voters present voted for the country to include the Essequibo area on the Venezuelan map.
The Venezuelan government is not obliged to implement the decisions of the referendum and it is still not clear what the Chavista regime’s strategy should be.
On the same day, Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana’s vice president, said in an interview that he was preparing for the worst and that the government was working with partners to strengthen “defense cooperation.”