Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro directed armed forces to conduct defensive exercises in the Eastern Caribbean after the United Kingdom deployed a warship to Guyana's territorial waters.
This move comes amid a dispute between the South American neighbors over a large border region.
Maduro addressed the plan of action in a nationally televised address on Thursday. The Associated Press reported that 6,000 Venezuelan troops, including both air and naval forces, will carry joint operations with the Bolivarian national armed forces off the nation's eastern coast near the border with Guyana. Maduro describes this as an action "of a defensive nature in response to the provocation and threat of the UK against peace and the sovereignty of our country," and that it is "the breaking of the spirit of dialogue, diplomacy and peace of agreements."
Reuters confirmed both leaders from Guyana and Venezuela reached an agreement earlier this month to abstain from the use of force and to mitigate escalating tensions in their longstanding border dispute over the oil-rich territory. The Essequibo region is 160,000 square km in size and is widely acknowledged as a part of Guyana. However, in recent years, Venezuela has renewed its claim to the territory and offshore areas following the discovery of substantial oil and gas resources. Guyana's Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo told reporters "Nothing that we do or have done is threatening Venezuela," during a press conference in Washington.
On Sunday, The Guardian announced that the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (MoD) declared it would be sending the patrol vessel to Guyana amid rising pressure. This treads on the heels of a referendum Venezuelan voters backed to create a new Venezuelan state in the Essequibo territory.
UK foreign minister, David Rutley, visited Guyana earlier this month and reaffirmed the importance of respecting its territorial integrity. He added that the UK would work internationally "to ensure the territorial integrity of Guyana is upheld".
