Sawt Falasteen - As Venezuela-Guyana tensions soar, US mounts military exercises

Caracas vowed not to be deterred from its planned "recovery" of the Essequibo region, which has been administered by Guyana for over a century and is the subject of border-related litigation before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

"This unfortunate provocation by the United States in favor... of ExxonMobil in Guyana is another step in the wrong direction," Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said on X, formerly Twitter.

He added: "we will not be diverted from our future actions for the recovery of the Essequibo," where the US oil giant has discovered crude.

The region comprises some two-thirds of Guyanese territory and is home to 125,000 of the country's 800,000 citizens. It is also claimed by Venezuela, which is seeking to bring the area under its rule.

Fears of the conflict blowing up have deepened as Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has upped the ante following a controversial referendum Sunday on annexing the region.

Increasingly alarmed at a possible threat from the authoritarian, leftist Venezuelan government, the United States announced it would conduct "flight operations within Guyana" on Thursday.

The joint exercises were part of "routine engagement and operations to enhance security partnership" with Guyana, the American embassy in Georgetown said in a statement.

In New York, the UN Security Council was to meet behind closed doors Friday to discuss the fast-escalating feud, according to an official schedule.

In a letter seen by AFP, Guyana's Foreign Minister Hugh Todd had asked the council's president to "call urgently for a meeting" to discuss "a grave matter that threatens international peace and security."

Guyana said Thursday an army helicopter had been found after it went missing the day before in a dense, mountainous zone near the border. Five of the seven soldiers aboard were dead, President Irfaan Ali said on Instagram.

The army, which said Wednesday there was "no information to suggest" Venezuela was involved, announced it had opened an investigation.

In Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also voiced "growing concern" about the tension on his country's northern border, telling a summit of the Mercosur regional bloc: "If there's one thing we don't want here in South America, it's war."

The Brazilian army said Wednesday it was reinforcing its presence in two northern cities.

- 'Direct threat' -

Guyana, a former British and Dutch colony, insists the Essequibo's frontier was determined by an arbitration panel in 1899.

But Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region's east forms a natural border recognized as far back as 1777.

The long-running dispute over Essequibo has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered oil there in 2015, with Caracas calling a referendum after Guyana started auctioning off oil blocks in the region in August.

Voters were asked to respond to five referendum questions, including whether Venezuela should reject the 1899 arbitration decision as well as the ICJ's jurisdiction.

They were also asked whether Venezuelan citizenship should be granted to the English-speaking people, currently Guyanese, of a new "Guyana Esequiba State" -- "consequently incorporating said State on the map of Venezuelan territory."

Officials in Caracas said 95 percent of voters supported the measures.

Then on Tuesday, Maduro proposed a bill to create a Venezuelan province in Essequibo and ordered the state oil company to issue licenses for extracting crude in the region.

The president also gave an ultimatum to oil companies working under Guyanese concessions to halt operations within three months.

Ali called Maduro's statements a "direct threat" against his country.

Guyana's armed forces were on "alert," Ali added in a rare address to the nation late Tuesday, and were in contact with "partners" including the United States.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call with Ali Wednesday reaffirmed the United States' "unwavering support for Guyana's sovereignty" and called for a peaceful resolution.

Asked Thursday how far Washington would go in supporting Guyana, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he did not want to "speculate about that kind of thing."

He told journalists at a White House briefing the sides should find a diplomatic solution, adding: "we don't want to see this come to blows."

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