Tension over the border region of Essequibo has raised worries about a military conflict, with Venezuela insisting Essequibo was part of its territory during the Spanish colonial period and arguing a 1966 Geneva agreement with Britain and the country then called British Guiana, now Guyana, nullified a border drawn in 1899 by international arbitrators.

The dispute was reignited with the discovery of oil in Guyana and escalated when Venezuela voted in a referendum on 3 December to claim two-thirds of its smaller neighbour.

The offshore patrol vessel HMS Trent is in Barbados over Christmas and will then head to Guyana for activities which will be carried out at sea.

Earlier this month, the Foreign Office minister for the Americas and Caribbean, David Rutley, visited Guyana.

HMS Trent is a River-class patrol vessel, designed for work including what the government describes as “defence diplomacy”.

The original article contains 295 words, the summary contains 163 words. Saved 45%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[+] artaxthehappyhorse@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

[deleted]

[–] wearling0600@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

Probably to continue getting 'Gulf Region'-rich off the back of the oil it found in an area that is internationally recognised as their territory.

Even Venezuela recognised it as part of Guyana's EEZ until very recently.

After Maduro mismanaged one of the most resource rich countries into basically a failed state, he's now trying to cling to power the tried and true way: stoking a pointless war with its neighbour.

Best case he's trying to rally support for a 2025 election, or use the threat of as an excuse to say the election. Worst case he's gonna do a Putin and actually start a war. Not a bad time for it either, whilst the world is already distracted with Ukraine and and Gaza.

Here's a decent video summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ7fTSirNDs

[–] Truck_kun@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ7fTSirNDs if you want to watch a video all about the situation, and history, instead of having to read up on it.

TLDR though: To keep the borders they've had for like 100ish years, it's a low population poorer country that is now rising in wealth due to a lot of oil in their exclusive economic zone thanks to the current borders. Their neighbor wants 2/3 of their territory, and control to the large supply of quality oil.

I would still watch the video though, was very informative.

[–] meteorswarm@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana%E2%80%93Venezuela_territorial_dispute summarizes the history. I think what Guyana wants is the status quo.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

It’s, like, a counter-piracy boat 😆 I’m sure Venezuela is quaking in its boots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Trent_(P224)