LONDON – Venezuela criticized “an act of hostile provocation” after the United Kingdom sent a naval patrol ship to Guyana amid a simmering border dispute.
The United Kingdom announced this week that its ship HMS Trent was being sent to Guyana, in what it described as a show of support for the former British colony that borders Venezuela.
President Nicolás Maduro's regime held a referendum earlier this month to seek public support for proposals to claim sovereignty over the vast oil- and mineral-rich Essequibo region, controlled by Guyana but long contested by Venezuela.
Maduro said in a televised address on Thursday evening that his country's armed forces would now begin their own military exercises, calling it “a joint action of a defensive nature in response to the United Kingdom's provocation and threat against the peace and sovereignty of our country.” .”
The British Ministry of Defense did not specifically mention Venezuela when announcing the operation earlier this week.
It simply said that HM Trent would “visit regional ally and Commonwealth partner Guyana later this month as part of a series of operations in the region during her Atlantic Patrol Task deployment.”
But on his visit to Guyana last week, British Foreign Secretary David Rutley said: “The border question has been resolved for over 120 years. “Sovereign borders must be respected everywhere in the world.”
Regional tensions have increased in recent weeks. After the Caracas referendum, Guyana and Venezuela signed an agreement promising not to use violence and to continue dialogue on the Essequibo dispute.
Guyana wants the dispute to be resolved by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, but Venezuela does not recognize its jurisdiction over the dispute.