As Georgetown prepares to dispatch a diplomatic note to Caracas about the breach of Guyanese sovereignty, international bodies and friendly countries are being briefed about current developments relating to the Venezuelan military presence here.
“We have activated all of the mechanisms that are available to us… It is our intention to explore these possibilities to its fullest so that our diplomatic initiative is really where the efforts will be,” Minister of State Joseph Harmon told a press conference yesterday at which Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force Brigadier Mark Phillips and Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman were also present.
Phillips for his part made clear that while all army bases are on alert for any eventuality there are no current moves to deploy reinforcements to the country’s borders.
On Tuesday President David Granger informed the media of an increased Venezuelan military presence at the border. Granger said he found the act “extraordinary and abnormal” explaining also that the Venezuelan troops deployed were various categories of ground military as well as marine personnel.
Harmon said the Guyana Defence Force continues to monitor the situation and define when there is aggression, so as to pass it on to government, for them to take necessary diplomatic and other measures.
“Once we define that aggression, that information passes up the channel to our diplomatic representatives who actually take it to the next level,” the former Lieutenant Colonel said.
A source explained to Stabroek News that Guyana has taken a position of observation and analysis, because there really is not much the country can do in terms of military retaliation: “You go to war with what you have; if the enemy is in a big truck and you are in a ̓lil Toyota Raum what will you do? Not stay easy in you corner?”
Meanwhile, Phillips yesterday said that armed military boats continue to be active in Guyana’s Cuyuni River but that Guyana would not choose a response of retaliation but continues to monitor the situation for breaches and acts of aggression.
“What is unusual is the deployment of military boats with machine guns in the Cuyuni River, and I wish to say that the Cuyuni River is inclusive of Guyana’s border. To deploy armed boats in the Cuyuni River is an affront to our sovereignty and this was reported to our Commander-in-Chief and international agencies… were alerted,” Phillips said.
He further added, “The deployment remains, as I speak, in position, and we continue to observe the troops, just over 200 at San Martín and Ankoko Island and the movements of those boats between Ankoko and San Martín… We continue to monitor the situation of the Venezuelan armed forces on our frontier.”
The army chief of staff noted that it was the GDF which had alerted government one week ago, to the greater concentration of Venezuelan troops saying that their intensified deployment started at the weekend simultaneous with their appearance in the Cuyuni River.
In addition to a Venezuelan marine presence, he said, the GDF was aware of missiles being moved to the border and that they had been located in a town not far from the Guyana frontier. “There were missiles seen within the Venezuelan border but contiguous to the Guyana Venezuelan border area… we were able to locate the missiles at town named El Dorado which is about 57 kilometres inside of Venezuela,” Phillips explained.
The Defence Force head told Stabroek News that while the Venezuelan military presence has intensified on Guyana’s land frontier, there has been no corresponding increase in the Atlantic, though that area continues to be monitored as well.
Trotman downplayed the seriousness of the Venezuelan troop movements, saying there was no need to worry about a possible invasion. In addition to calling it a publicity stunt, he expressed the view that it was the Maduro administration’s way of diverting attention from the issues that country faces, as it goes into elections for its National Assembly come December 6, 2015.
“There is no cause for people to believe that we are about to be invaded or anything like that; there are obviously manoeuvres but these have more of a political end than a military end,” he said.
“Much of what we are seeing is expected to influence and to make an impact on the world stage and so Guyanese ought not to be alarmed that anything is about to happen but… all precautions are in place and everything is being done to monitor and to define what is going on and in no way is Guyana preparing to stage on its own or to precipitate any act of aggression… We are in the throes of some grandstanding so to speak, but that is not to say that we should ignore it and we should not pay careful attention,” he said.
Government has told citizens who live close to the frontier that they should be vigilant but should not panic and this was reiterated by Trotman yesterday “We shouldn’t panic or have a sense that we are about to be faced with guns and missiles or anything of the sort,” Trotman said.
Venezuela has admitted to having troops at the border, and that country’s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez has said that the deployment of these was part of a military exercise in preparation for any eventuality. “We are really preparing ourselves…even with all the fronts we face today,” Padrino Lopez was quoted by Reuters as saying.
However Guyana’s President said on Tuesday he believes the build-up of troops at this country’s border was directly related to the ongoing border controversy. Said Granger, “I have been in my earlier profession familiar with Venezuelan behaviour and what we have noticed during the month of September is an extraordinary escalation of Venezuelan military activity in eastern Venezuela.”
He went on to say that he feels that Guyana’s Spanish-speaking neighbour is treading a dangerous course instead of seeking a peaceful resolution of the matter.
He will be raising the issue not only during his address to United Nations General Assembly next week, but also when he holds bilaterals with various world leaders, he said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge, in a post on the social media site YouTube on Tuesday night, referred to the Venezuelan military presence calling it illegal and a downright violation. “In addition to mobilization of personnel and equipment, including missile launchers on the other side of its borders, or of our borders, they have also, as far as I am concerned, illegally positioned ships in the waterways of Guyana.”
He said that the international community has been briefed and stressed that Venezuela which is signatory to United Nations Charter on peaceful coexistence knows “such breaches have serious consequences.”
Venezuela recently closed its border with Colombia, which has caused considerable tension between the two countries. Critics within Venezuela have said that the aggressive posture adopted by Caracas in the case of both Colombia and Guyana represents an attempt to deflect attention from the food shortages in Venezuela and the upcoming elections for the National Assembly which polls suggest the ruling party might possibly lose.
