The situation in South America may be about to devolve into a military confrontation between Socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro’s Venezuela and the oil-rich, western affiliated Guyana.
The new development increasing the tension: American military fighter planes.
The object of the dispute is the Essequibo region, that has been a part of Guyana for over a century and has become the subject of border litigation before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
125,000 of Guyana’s 800,000 citizens live in this area, but Caracas has long claimed it should be under its control.
Guyana’s government in Georgetown has turned to the US for military aid, “seeking to deepen the ongoing security cooperation program between our two countries.”
AFP reported:
“American fighter jets flew over Guyana Thursday in a military exercise that irked Venezuela, which is embroiled in a diplomatic spat with its neighbor over an oil-rich border region.
The Super Hornets flew over Georgetown and surrounding areas in what a US embassy statement said was a ‘Guyana Defense Force-coordinated and approved’ exercise.”
As one would expect, Venezuela was less than happy.
The socialist country said the presence of the US planes threatens the fragile peace negotiated between Presidents Nicolas Maduro and Irfaan Ali in December.
Venezuela’s defense minister Padrino Lopez.
“Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said it was the latest in a series of ‘repeated provocations’ from the United States. ‘Our integral aerospace defense system remains activated in the face of any attempt to breach Venezuelan geographical space, including our Essequibo territory’, he said.”
This comes after Caracas’ had previously criticized joint military exercises by US and Guyana last December, calling it an ‘unfortunate provocation by the United States in favor of ExxonMobil in Guyana’.
“The squabble was revived in 2015 after US energy giant ExxonMobil discovered huge crude reserves in Essequibo and reached fever pitch last year after Georgetown started auctioning off oil blocks in the region.
Maduro’s government then called a controversial, non-binding referendum which overwhelmingly approved the creation of a Venezuelan province in Essequibo, sparking fears of a military conflict.”
Venezuelan troops.
Guyana’s soldiers.
In December, Maduro and Ali met and agreed not to use force to settle the dispute.
The United States has since denied a claim by socialist strongman Maduro that it was building secret military bases in Essequibo.
Fox News reported:
“Guyana’s government on Thursday said it gave permission for the U.S. military to fly two powerful F/A-18F Super Hornet jets over its capital to demonstrate the close military and other forms of cooperation between this oil-exporting South American nation and the United States.
The country had about three hours notice of the exercise through an American embassy announcement but most people appeared to have been surprised by the noisy and unprecedented fly over that comes in the midst of simmering tensions between Guyana and Venezuela over a large swath of Guyana’s territory.”
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The post American Fighter Jets Fly Over Guyana In Show of Support Against Socialist Maduro’s Territorial Ambitions in Oil-Rich Essequibo Region appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
