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To this end, old military facilities in Guyana have been modernized and new ones are being built.
Guyana requested military assistance from the United States — and it arrived surprisingly quickly, even before newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump took office. Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, in his congratulatory message to Trump on his victory, limited himself to expressing his hope for close cooperation with the new American administration and for further strengthening of ties between Guyana and the United States.
On December 5, the President of Guyana visited the United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) where he met with its new Commander, U.S. Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey, to discuss regional security issues and the bilateral defense partnership.
According to officials, the United States Southern Command is helping the Guyana Defense Force (GDF) «strengthen its technological capabilities to respond to threats». That «threat» comes from neighboring Venezuela, which, according to insider reports, was the subject of discussions between senior officials of both countries.
Again, according to officials, SOUTHCOM also provides direct support for strategic planning, policy development, and coordination of military and security cooperation to enhance interoperability of services in the face of emerging threats.
As a result of the defense and security partnership signed between SOUTHCOM and the GDF, the former has already completed work on the expansion of the GDF Coast Guard River Station, bringing the total number of U.S. military facilities in the country to four. All will be repurposed in 2024 for use by various U.S. and Guyanese security services.
The expansion of the harbor structure at Ramp Road Ruimveldt Naval Base in Georgetown was identified as one of SOUTHCOM’s top priority projects during last year’s multinational Tradewinds 23 exercise. U.S. military engineers from the 6th Battalion, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade constructed a boat launch ramp for outboard motor vessels and an interceptor boat dock.
In addition to this newly renovated station of the GDF Marine Unit, there is the construction of a new hangar and the expansion of existing facilities for the GDF Air Corps, located at the Eugene F. Correia-Ogle International Airport, along with a network of radio relay stations and a communications station. In addition, a new paratrooper training school was completed in the jungle.
In addition to the new Coast Guard facility, the airfield at Eteringbang was reopened on November 28 to serve as a transportation hub in a region with no land or water access. The recently extended 640-meter runway now allows the operation of single or twin-engine piston or turboprop light aircraft. The runway is located just a few meters from the Cuyuni River and the border guard base of the Bolivarian National Army and Air Force «Isla de Anacoco» (Isla de Anacoco, an island in the Cuyuni River on the border between Venezuela and Guyana; this disputed territory is effectively controlled by Venezuela).
Recently, SOUTHCOM and the government of Guyana reached an agreement to relocate the fourth military base on the Essequibo border with Venezuela, to be used by Guyana’s security forces, Diario las Americas reported.
The question arises: How will Guyana’s small army be able to operate all these military installations? As of early 2022, the total strength of the Guyana Armed Forces was 3,400 personnel.
• Ground Forces: 3,000 personnel (one infantry battalion and one presidential guard battalion), 9 armored vehicles (six EE-9 Cascavels and three S52 Shortlands), six 130mm M-46 towed artillery guns, and 48 mortars (18 units of 120mm M-43, 18 Soviet 82mm M-43, and 12 British 81mm L16A1).
• Air Force: 200 personnel, six transport aircraft (two BN-2, one Cessna U206F, two SC 73CM, and one Harbin Y-12), one Bell Helicopter Textron 412 8R utility helicopter, and two Bell 206 transport helicopters.
• Coast Guard: 200 personnel and 5 patrol boats.
Clearly, with such forces, it would be difficult to counter any «threat to national sovereignty». Next year, Guyana’s Parliamentary Appropriations Committee approved a staggering $42.2 billion to strengthen the capabilities of the Guyana Defense Force, more than double this year’s budget allocation.
It is obvious that the Pentagon will not suffer financially from «helping the GDF». Even more so in the military-political sphere. The expansion of the U.S. Southern Command’s naval base in Guyana and the use of the airport for military purposes serve primarily to expand American influence in the region and to isolate the Maduro regime.
«Locating military bases in Guyana, especially in areas adjacent to the Essequibo region, is not only a pressure tactic against Venezuela, but also a platform from which the United States can extend its influence into the Amazon. This military presence is aimed at strengthening control over this region, which is key from an ecological, energy and strategic point of view», Sputnik quoted geopolitical expert Martin Pulgar as saying.
These U.S. actions in neighboring Guyana were described by Maduro as a provocation in the region, while the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry noted that «the unacceptable expansion of naval bases and airports hinders the peaceful resolution of the territorial dispute through negotiations».
«The unacceptable expansion of the naval base and the airport for military purposes shows the desire of the United States to prevent a peaceful and consensual resolution of the territorial dispute [between Venezuela and Guyana], undermining our country’s legitimate historical rights to Guyana-Esequibo», said a statement from the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.
Incidentally, in April of this year, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro stated, «We have information that confirms that there were secret military bases of the Southern Command (U.S.)… CIA units…in the territory of Guyana Essequibo, which is temporarily administered by Guyana».
«That is an interesting rumor. As far as I know, it’s unfounded», replied U.S. Air Force Major General Evan Pettus at the time. Less than a year later, it turned out that he was being disingenuous.
The dispute between Venezuela and Guyana over ownership of 159,500 square kilometers of territory west of the Essequibo River has been going on for more than 100 years. The conflict intensified with the discovery of oil fields containing about 11 billion barrels in 2015, and Guyana’s granting of a concession to ExxonMobil for oil production on the continental shelf, whose boundaries are undefined. The transnational corporation Exxon has already announced plans to produce 1.2 million barrels of oil and gas per day from this block by 2027.
In April of this year, following a national referendum, Venezuela passed a law incorporating Guyana-Essequibo into the Bolivarian Republic as its 24th state.
On December 14 last year, after high-level talks in the capital of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Venezuela and Guyana pledged to refrain from the use of force to resolve the territorial dispute, reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining Latin America as a zone of peace, and promised to prevent escalation in Guyana-Esequibo. Washington made no such promises or commitments.
The territorial dispute between the two countries is currently before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
«Venezuela strongly rejects the recent joint actions of the U.S. Southern Command and the government of Guyana, which threaten regional stability, undermine the principles of international law and pose a threat to peace in the region», Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto wrote on his Telegram channel.
This new surge of tension comes on the eve of the inauguration of the Venezuelan president on January 10 and the U.S. president on January 20. Thus, any pressure that the outgoing Biden administration or the incoming Trump administration may wish to exert on Venezuela must be applied before January 10. After Nicolás Maduro is sworn in, the situation will become more complicated. But it is unlikely that Donald Trump will pass up the opportunity to resolve the «longstanding» Venezuelan problem in his favor. Biden has established a base in Guyana for an invasion of Venezuela. Next — following Chekhov’s principle — a gun on the wall must eventually fire.