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British warship arrives in Guyana as tensions heat up in border dispute with Venezuela

Published:Saturday | December 30, 2023 | 11:14 AM
Venezuela’s new map that includes the Essequibo territory as its own is displayed at the Foreign Ministry in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, December 11, 2023. Leaders of Guyana and Venezuela are preparing to meet this week to address an escalating dispute over the Essequibo region which is rich in oil and minerals. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A British warship arrived in Guyana on Friday afternoon amid rising tensions from a border dispute between the former British colony and Venezuela.

The HMS Trent's visit led Venezuela to begin military exercises a day earlier in the eastern Caribbean near its border with Guyana as the Venezuelan government presses its claim to a huge swath of its smaller neighbour.

Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed concern Friday about the situation and urged the two South American countries to return to dialogue. It said other nations should avoid “military activities” that support either side.

Brazil's statement called on Guyana and Venezuela to stay true to the Argyle Declaration, an agreement signed earlier this month in which their leaders said they would solve the border dispute through nonviolent means.

The dispute is over Essequibo, a sparsely populated region that is the size of Florida and rich in oil and minerals. Venezuela has long claimed it was cheated out of the territory when Europeans and the US set the border.

The United Kingdom Defense Ministry has said that the ship is visiting Guyana as part of a series of engagements in the region and that the vessel will conduct training exercises with Guyana's military.

On its account on X, formerly Twitter, the ship posted photos of sailors welcoming Britain's ambassador to Guyana and the chief of staff of Guyana's Defense Force, Brig. Gen. Omar Khan. They were hosted at a formal lunch and provided with a tour of the ship's capabilities.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Khan said such operations “remain an important part of the regional security spectrum of activities. It has been so in the past and will continue in the future.”

Officials have been tight-lipped on the nature of the exercises.

The warship is generally used to intercept pirates and drug smugglers, and it recently conducted joint exercises with the navies of several West African nations. It is equipped with cannons and a landing pad for helicopters and drones and can carry around 50 marines.

In a statement late Thursday, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali said Venezuela “had nothing to fear” from the ship's activities in Guyanese waters.

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