Venezuela in double standards as satellite pictures show military expansion near Guyana border

Last Updated on Friday, 9 February 2024, 21:38 by Denis Chabrol

Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd holding a map of northern South American that includes the internationally recognised boundary of Guyana. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd on Friday said Guyana was paying attention to satellite pictures of Venezuela’s increasing expansion of its military presence near the border with Guyana, raising concerns about double-standards by that Spanish-speaking neighbour.

“Clearly, there is some amount of inconsistencies based on what they are doing on the international front in terms of diplomacy and what they are doing back home in terms of their military posture,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

Mr Todd said concerns had already been raised with his Venezuelan counterpart, Yvan Gil, at their Joint Commission meeting held last month in Brasilia, Brazil.

The Guyanese Foreign Minister did not provide details of those discussions, only saying that “they (Venezuela) have to correct that.”  He stressed that Guyana was committed to the 11-pount Argyle Declaration for Peace and Dialogue that emerged from the first meeting between President Irfaan Ali and President Nicolas Maduro in Argyle, St Vincent.

Also, he reiterated Guyana’s position that the International Court of Justice would be the only mechanism that would be used to resolve the dispute over the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award that settled the land b0undary with Venezuela.

The Venezuelan government had ordered military exercises off its Caribbean coast for just under a week in response to the United Kingdom (UK) warship, HMS Trent, being in Guyana’s waters as part of defence cooperation between the two countries. The United States and France have also stepped up their defence cooperation with Guyana.

Mr Todd’s reaction on Friday came the same day the United States-headquartered Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published several satellite pictures revealing that Venezuela was extending its military base at Ankoko Island and in the Punta Barima area about 43 miles from Guyana. According to that Washington DC-based think-tank, Venezuela’s participation in the Argyle process represents the diplomatic carrot, while its military engagement in provocative behavior acts as a stick to tilt negotiations in Caracas’s favor.” Recent activity by the Venezuelan armed forces within the Essequibo and in nearby waters observed in satellite imagery lends credence to this argument and suggests Maduro may be duplicitous in his commitment to resolve the dispute through diplomatic channels.”

CSIS advised that policymakers need to be attentive to both the words and actions of the Maduro regime in navigating the Essequibo dispute. Negotiations should not overlook provocations on the border. In doing so, Anacoco Island, Punta Barima, and likely other locations, stand out as areas to monitor as the March meeting between Presidents Maduro and Ali approaches.

CSIS said Venezuela’s escalatory behavior creates opportunities for miscalculation and loss of control over events on the ground, as the Venezuelan state is not a unified actor, fragmented as it is by corruption, criminal interests, and internal jockeying for power.

“It may well be the case that the buildup on Anacoco was undertaken to placate factions within the armed forces frustrated with the change to diplomatic negotiations and desiring to flex their muscle even as the two sides sit down to negotiate.

Even if this is the case, it is not without risks, as local commanders, operating far from the locus of Venezuelan state power, may be tempted to escalate the situation on their own with further provocations or even by launching operations in the Guyanese Essequibo,” the analysts said.