After the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claimed the oil-rich Essequibo region controlled by Guyana through a referendum held on December 3, military tensions in South America have escalated. Military operations have been carried out by the US and planned by the UK with the Guyana Defense Forces, and Brazil, the region's largest country, sent troops and arms to the border region with Venezuela and Guyana.
US and Brazilian officers review troops at close of Southern Vanguard military exercise in November
In an international context dominated by the US and NATO war against Russia in Ukraine, and Israel’s genocide backed by the imperialist powers in Gaza that threatens to engulf Iran, Venezuela and Guyana are aligning themselves with rival sides of a future third world war.
Since the government of former president Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), Venezuela has maintained strong economic and military relations with China, Russia and to a lesser extent Iran, countries that the head of the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Laura Richardson, denounced in October as “strategic competitors [of the US] who have malign intentions” in South America.
In a telephone conversation between Maduro and Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 21, both defended “a fair multipolar world order” and “the rejection of illegal sanctions,” which have been used by US imperialism to undermine both countries economically and to attempt regime change. Putin also advocated Venezuela joining BRICS, a bloc formed by Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, which recently included Iran and seven other countries to counter US hegemony.
On the other hand, Guyana, a former British colony and member of the Commonwealth that in recent years has seen soaring economic growth due to huge offshore oil reserves discovered and exploited mainly by the American company Exxon Mobil, has sought the support of the US and the UK against the threat of annexation by the Maduro government. Having guaranteed “unwavering support” for Guyana, the Pentagon carried out an air operation in Essequibo on December 7, and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali has repeated that he may allow the US to install a military base in the country.
On Sunday, December 24, the United Kingdom announced the deployment of the warship HMS Trent to Guyana for military exercises with its Defense Force. This follows the SOUTHCOM-sponsored military exercise Tradewinds 23, held in July, which for the second time in the last three years was hosted by Guyana and saw the participation of 21 countries, including the United Kingdom and Brazil.
Venezuela’s defense minister, Vladimir Padrino López, responded that same day by writing on X/Twitter that the British initiative is a “provocation that puts the peace and stability of the Caribbean and our America at risk.” He added: “A warship in waters to be delimited? ... What about the commitment to good neighborliness and peaceful coexistence? What about the agreement not to threaten or use force against each other under any circumstances?”
López was referring to the agreement reached between Presidents Maduro and Ali on December 14 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, whose president, Ralph Gonsalves, heads the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). According to the agreement, the two countries undertook “not to make threats or use force,” but rather to seek solutions to the crisis in accordance with “international law” and the “peaceful coexistence and unity of Latin America and the Caribbean.” Another meeting is scheduled to take place in Brazil within the next three months.
Despite the claims in the final declaration, the crisis is far from over. Ali has insisted that the “International Court of Justice (ICJ) will decide the dispute over the borders between Guyana and Venezuela,” whose origins date back to the 19th century. The Maduro government, however, has insisted that it does not recognize the ICJ’s jurisdiction, and that Guyana did not have the right to grant oil exploration concessions to Exxon Mobil in a disputed territory.
The government of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers Party – PT) has been working closely with the US government of President Joe Biden to mediate the crisis between Venezuela and Guyana. Due to the possibility of an invasion by Venezuela crossing through Brazilian territory, the Lula government’s defense minister, José Múcio, has warned, “if a more energetic ‘you won't pass here’ is necessary, we are prepared for it.”
This has led the Lula government to escalate its military presence as a deterrent to any Venezuelan initiative in the sensitive Amazon region bordering both countries. He has moved up by two years the transformation of the 12th Mechanized Cavalry Squadron in Boa Vista, capital of the northern state of Roraima, into the 18th Mechanized Cavalry Regiment, which will increase the number of troops from 230 to 700.
Sixteen armored tanks and dozens of surface-to-surface missiles similar to the American Javelin, widely used by Ukraine against Russia, are also being sent to Boa Vista’s military base.
Since the fraudulent impeachment of PT president Dilma Rousseff in 2016, the Amazon region has been the stage for military exercises with the participation of the US armed forces. In 2017, Brazil and the US, alongside Peru and Colombia (which host most of the US bases in Latin America), carried out the first war games in the region. The military exercise marked a new stage of the US imperialism’s “pivot to Latin America” offensive to counter China’s growing presence in the region.
In 2020, under the government of fascistic President Jair Bolsonaro, a close ally of then-US President Donald Trump, the Brazilian armed forces held the largest military exercise in the Amazon region, simulating a war with an “enemy country,” with clear reference to Venezuela. It took place amid increasing US threats against the Maduro government and the largest recent US military deployment in Latin America.
Since Lula’s inauguration earlier this year, his government has deepened its military partnership with the US while providing criminal political cover for the Biden administration as it tries to assert US imperialism’s strategic interests in the region it historically considers its “backyard.” As part of this process, 1,200 Brazilian military personnel and 300 American military personnel carried out a military exercise between November 1 and 16 on the border between Brazil and French Guiana—the same Amazon rainforest environment as the triple border region between Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana.