Oh good, British gunboat diplomacy in South America always great for humanity
Britain, keen to continue intervening in South American affairs.
The same Britain which, under UNCLOS, shouldn’t be occupying the Falklands?
Rule Brittania! Rule the waves!
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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
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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana–Venezuela_territorial_dispute summarizes the history. I think what Guyana wants is the status quo.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A Royal Navy patrol ship will be sent to Guyana in a show of British support for the Commonwealth country.
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!
It’s, like, a counter-piracy boat 😆 I’m sure Venezuela is quaking in its boots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Trent_(P224)
The problem would be accidentally shooting at it or getting into any other crufuffle with it.
Venezuela can just claim that it happened in Venezuelan territorial waters. It’s the China playbook and it’s not entirely invalid. Veneuzuela’s claim on the Essequibo is pretty strong, but Britain wants to avoid setting the precedent that their colonial-era borders are invalid.
What they claim will be irrelevant, if the UK and any other countries decide that this was not the case, the casus belli will be made.
