Venezuela launches military operation against “threat” from Britain

WORLD, Dec. 29 (YPA) – Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has ordered his armed forces to conduct defensive exercises in the Eastern Caribbean after the United Kingdom sent a warship towards Guyana’s territorial waters after he claimed to have the right to annex part of his neighbouring country’s lands.

In a nationally televised address, Maduro said that 6000 Venezuelan troops, including air and naval forces, would conduct joint operations off the nation’s eastern coast – near the border with Guyana.

“We believe in diplomacy, in dialogue, and in peace, but no one is going to threaten Venezuela,” Maduro said in a room accompanied by a dozen military commanders. “This is an unacceptable threat to any sovereign country in Latin America.”

Maduro described the impending arrival of the British ship HMS Trent to Guyana’s shores as a “threat” to his country.

Venezuela and Guyana are currently involved in a border dispute over the Essequibo, a sparsely populated region the size of Florida with vast oil deposits off its shores.

E.M