Guyana-US in joint naval exercises near American oil assets

Guyana’s government announced the start of joint naval exercises with the US Navy on Thursday, the same day visiting Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it clear the US will defend Guyana if neighboring Venezuela attacks American offshore oil interests licensed by the CARICOM nation as it ramps up its claims to a large swathe of Guyana’s territory.

The Guyana Defense Force (GDF) said the exercises, which began this week in the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), will involve the US Navy Cruiser USS Normandy and local vessels and are aimed at “safeguarding Guyana’s maritime sovereignty and enhancing regional security through collaborative training. This engagement also reflects the strong and growing military-to-military relationship between Guyana and the United States,” the military stated. Rubio is also scheduled to fly to neighboring Suriname later on Thursday.

The announcement coincided with Secretary Rubio’s arrival for talks with Guyanese President Irfaan Ali. Asked at a joint press conference after the bilateral meeting if the US would rush to Guyana’s defense, Rubio made it plain that the US would support Guyana, saying energy security is important for Guyana, the region, and the hemisphere as well.

“It would be a very bad day for the Venezuelan regime if they were to attack Guyana or attack ExxonMobil or anything like it. It would not end well for them. I’m not going to get into details of what we’ll do,” he said, noting that the US has a “big navy.
We have commitments that exist today with Guyana. We want to build on those, expand on those, and we’ll leave it for the appropriate time, but suffice it to say that if, if that regime were to do something such as that, it would be a very bad move, it would be a big mistake for them,” he said.

His warning to Venezuela came less than a month after a Venezuelan military vessel sailed in the middle of oil storage vessels and exploration rigs contracted by US major ExxonMobil and its consortium partners, producing around 650,000 barrels of oil daily for export to the US and other destinations. The Venezuelan vessel had warned the offshore ships that they were operating illegally.

In recent years, Venezuela has held a referendum to annex the western Essequibo region that it has long claimed as its own. It has planned to hold elections in Guyana to appoint a governor and other top officials.

Guyana, in 2018, took the case to the World Court in The Netherlands for a once and all settlement. However, no decision is expected this year, Guyana’s foreign ministry has said, as Venezuela has been given time to respond to court filings from Guyana.