Devendra Kumar
A British Royal Navy warship, HMS Trent, is set to visit Guyana later this month as a show of support for the Commonwealth nation. This move comes as Guyana is locked in a dispute with Venezuela over a mineral-rich border region. Tensions over the border region of Essequibo have raised concerns about a potential military conflict. Venezuela claims Essequibo was part of its territory during the Spanish colonial period and argues a 1966 Geneva agreement with Britain and then-British Guiana, now Guyana, nullified a border drawn in 1899 by international arbitrators.
The dispute was rekindled with the discovery of oil in Guyana and escalated when Venezuela held a referendum on December 3rd to claim two-thirds of its smaller neighbor. The offshore patrol vessel HMS Trent is currently in Barbados over Christmas and will then head to Guyana for activities that will take place at sea. The ship is not expected to dock in Georgetown, Guyana’s capital.
Earlier this month, UK Foreign Office minister for the Americas and Caribbean David Rutley visited Guyana. He stated that the border issue has been settled for over 120 years and that sovereign borders must be respected wherever they are in the world. Rutley also emphasized that Venezuela had promised to refrain from the use of force and any further escalation in the dispute. He added that the UK would work internationally to ensure the territorial integrity of Guyana is upheld.
HMS Trent is a River-class patrol vessel, designed for tasks including what the Government describes as “defence diplomacy.” This visit by the Royal Navy is seen as a show of support for Guyana and a demonstration of the UK’s commitment to upholding the country’s sovereignty. The deployment of the warship is part of a series of engagements in the region during HMS Trent’s Atlantic patrol task deployment.