The U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) conducted a joint military exercise with the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) on Thursday in an apparent effort to deter socialist Venezuela from invading the the South American country.
Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro held a a sham referendum earlier this week on whether the country should annex the majority of Guyana, an oil rich country on Venezuela’s eastern border.
The Miami Herald reported that U.S. officials have not yet seen the type of military activity they would expect to see if Venezuela was close to launching an invasion.
However, officials warned that even a small force deployed by Venezuela could spark the need for a “global response” which would add to the increased instability happening around the world, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Iran stirring up terrorism in the Middle East, China threatening to invade Taiwan, and North Korea continuing to act belligerent.
John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council in the White House, claimed on Thursday that people should not read too much into the joint military exercise.
“I’d be careful drawing too strong connective tissue between routine military operations that we do in the region and this particular issue,” said Kirby. “That said, as I said before, we recognize the sovereign territory of Guyana, and as we do with many nations — sovereign nations — in the region, we conduct operations and exercises as appropriate.”
“We absolutely stand by our unwavering support for Guyana’s sovereignty,” he added.
Amid the threats from Venezuela, leftist Brazil has deployed its military along its border with Venezuela because if Venezuela were to try to invade the oil-rich Essequibo region they would likely need to enter through Brazil due to challenging terrain along the Venezuela-Guyana border.
Experts warn that Maduro might be trying to simply stir things up with a small military conflict to use as a pretext for declaring martial law before the country’s elections next year.
“The Venezuelan armed forces might have enough equipment to make some kind of show of force, but it really does not have the men for a serious effort,” said Manuel Cristopher Figuera, a retired major general in the Venezuelan army. “This is a farce — a perfect farce to declare martial law.”