The Ministry of Defense sends armored vehicles to the border with Venezuela Policy

The Ministry of Defense confirmed today, Monday (4), that it has deployed 20 armored vehicles to enhance security on the border with Venezuela.

Defense Minister Jose Mocio said the operation was actually planned to combat mining in the area, but the vehicles could help maintain security in the area.

According to the minister, the equipment will be placed in the Boa Vista barracks in Roraima, a squadron that will be transformed into a cavalry regiment with 130 soldiers.

The region is witnessing an escalation in tensions related to the conflict between Venezuela and Guyana over the Essequibo region, a large part of the territory currently under Guyana’s administration, which contains large oil reserves.

The Essequibo region covers an area of ​​160,000 square kilometres, about 70% of the current area of ​​Guyana, and has oil reserves estimated at 11 billion barrels. The area is larger than countries such as England, Cuba or Greece.

Venezuela considers Essequibo, also known as Guayana Esquipa in Spanish, a “claimed territory” and generally displays it crossed out on its maps. Meanwhile, Guyana, which controls and administers the region, includes six of its ten administrative regions there.

Countries have been disputing over the region since 1841. In 2015, the conflict intensified with the discovery of oil fields in the region by the American company ExxonMobil.

Guyana claims to own the territory because there is a report from 1899, issued in Paris, in which the current boundaries were determined. At that time, Guyana was a territory of the United Kingdom.

Venezuela claims that the territory belongs to it because it came in an agreement signed in 1966 with the United Kingdom itself, before the independence of Guyana, in which the arbitration ruling was canceled and the basis for a negotiated solution was laid.

On Sunday (4), Venezuela organized a referendum in which 95% of voters present voted in favor of the country’s annexation of the Essequibo region to the Venezuelan map.

The Venezuelan government is not obligated to implement what the referendum decides, and it remains unclear what strategy the Chavez regime should adopt.

On the same day, Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana’s Vice President, said in an interview that he was preparing for the worst and that the government was working with partners to strengthen “defense cooperation.”