Venezuela launches military exercise near Guyana over UK warship ‘threat’
- British warship heads to Venezuela neighbour Guyana amid a border dispute between the two South American countries
- Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro described the impending arrival of HMS Trent to as a ‘threat’ to his country
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro ordered more than 5,600 military personnel to participate in a “defensive” exercise near the border with Guyana, in response to Britain sending a warship to the area.
Maduro said on Thursday 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”.
Britain said Sunday it would divert the patrol vessel HMS Trent to Guyana, a former British colony, amid the South American country’s simmering territorial dispute with neighbouring Venezuela over the oil-rich Essequibo region.
A Guyana foreign ministry source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the ship was due to arrive Friday and would be in its territory for “less than a week” for open sea defence exercises. The ship will not dock in Georgetown.
The television broadcast accompanying Maduro’s announcement showed fighter jets participating in the Venezuelan exercise, as well as ships and ocean patrol vessels.