Defence

Guyana on  Friday sounded a strong public appeal for international help to pressure Venezuela to use the World Court to settle the territorial dispute over the Essequibo Region, a day after that Spanish-speaking nation’s National Assembly passed a law declaring Essequibo part of its territory. “Guyana calls on the international community to uphold the rule of law by rejecting Venezuela’s ...

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) would soon acquire two new aircraft from India with a US$23.27 million loan from India’s Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank), according to the Finance Ministry. The financing agreement was signed on Friday by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh and Deputy General Manager of EXIMBANK, Sanjay Lamba. “This agreement represents the latest instalment of the ...

Guyana’s President, Irfaan Ali on Friday told Latin American and Caribbean leaders that his country is bound by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to settle the decades-old border controversy with Venezuela. He told the 8th Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in St Vincent that he was ready to speak with Venezuela’s President Nicolas ...

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 ...

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Irfaan Ali on Thursday announced that there would be unspecified changes in the way the operations of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in keeping with a greater focus on technology, assets and partnerships with foreign partners. “There will be, based on our assessment, some reorientation, reorganising of the way we do our work and ...

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Irfaan Ali on Thursday announced that the designation of the highest military appointment, Chief-of-Staff, would be changed to Chief of Defence. Addressing the opening of Guyana Defence Force (GDF) 2024 Annual Officers’ Conference, he said the change is in keeping with what obtains across the Caribbean and elsewhere. “This will be the last officers ...

ExxonMobil plans to explore for oil offshore the Essequibo Region where Venezuelan gunboats had six years ago chased seismic research vessels in oil concessions that had been granted by Guyana, President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge said Tuesday. “The Liza field, the last time I looked, takes you pretty close to that (equidistant) line. We plan to drill two exploration ...

The United States on Sunday reaffirmed military support for Guyana against Venezuela’s lingering threat to take control of the Essequibo Region. US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, who was in Guyana for a brief visit, said the two countries were “deepening our defence cooperation” to assist Guyana in preserving its borders. “That cooperation is fundamentally defensive in nature and ...

The United States Army’s Southern Command would on Friday explore how to assist the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in monitoring this South American nation’s airspace to preserve its sovereignty, the American Embassy here said Thursday. US Air Force Major General, Evan L. Pettus, 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) Commander, will visit Guyana from January 31 – February 2 and ...

The Foreign Ministers of  Guyana and Venezuela would be meeting in Brazil on Thursday in keeping with an accord reached in St Vincent a month ago between President Irfaan Ali and his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro. “The meeting is a very important step in fulfilling what we agreed on in St Vincent and that was the establishment of this commission ...