No one cools down border disputes better than Great Britain
this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2023
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Oh good, British gunboat diplomacy in South America always great for humanity
Britain, keen to continue intervening in South American affairs.
The same Britain which, under UNCLOS, shouldn't be occupying the Falklands?
Rule Brittania! Rule the waves!
It’s, like, a counter-piracy boat 😆 I’m sure Venezuela is quaking in its boots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Trent_(P224)
The problem would be accidentally shooting at it or getting into any other crufuffle with it.
Venezuela can just claim that it happened in Venezuelan territorial waters. It's the China playbook and it's not entirely invalid. Veneuzuela's claim on the Essequibo is pretty strong, but Britain wants to avoid setting the precedent that their colonial-era borders are invalid.
What they claim will be irrelevant, if the UK and any other countries decide that this was not the case, the casus belli will be made.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A Royal Navy patrol ship will be sent to Guyana in a show of British support for the Commonwealth country.
Tension over the border region of Essequibo has raised worries about a military conflict, with Venezuela insisting Essequibo was part of its territory during the Spanish colonial period and arguing a 1966 Geneva agreement with Britain and the country then called British Guiana, now Guyana, nullified a border drawn in 1899 by international arbitrators.
The dispute was reignited with the discovery of oil in Guyana and escalated when Venezuela voted in a referendum on 3 December to claim two-thirds of its smaller neighbour.
The offshore patrol vessel HMS Trent is in Barbados over Christmas and will then head to Guyana for activities which will be carried out at sea.
Earlier this month, the Foreign Office minister for the Americas and Caribbean, David Rutley, visited Guyana.
HMS Trent is a River-class patrol vessel, designed for work including what the government describes as “defence diplomacy”.
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