War Drums: Venezuela Deploying Tanks and Missile Ships Against Outgunned Neighbor

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Will President Joe Biden’s next crisis be in our own hemisphere, in our own backyard? It’s beginning to look that way.

According to a Friday report in The Wall Street Journal, Venezuela’s military isn’t just talking about annexing an oil-rich portion of neighboring Guyana, but is “backing up its threats to … secure access to some of the world’s largest oil finds in more than a decade by moving light tanks, missile-equipped patrol boats and armored carriers to the two countries’ border in what is quickly turning into a new security challenge for the Biden administration.”

The recent military deployment was revealed Friday in satellite images that had been posted by Venezuela’s military on its social media accounts.

As CNN noted in a December report, the border between Venezuela and Guyana was set by international arbitrators in 1899. However, the recent oil discovery — combined with Venezuela’s extreme poverty and other issues related to the failures of the socialist government of Nicolás Maduro — has caused Caracas to abandon any pretense of respecting that 125-year-old arbitration ruling.

According to The Associated Press, Maduro’s government won an internal referendum on annexing Essequibo in December — although the wire service noted “lackluster turnout suggested his government is losing influence and is tone deaf to people’s needs.”

“Venezuela’s National Electoral Council on Monday reported participation in the referendum of about 10.5 million voters, which would have been just over half of the 20.6 million eligible people. But those figures defied what people witnessed at voting centers, where long lines typical of Venezuelan elections never formed,” the AP reported.

Nevertheless, given Venezuela’s 130,000 front-line troops compared to Guyana’s 3,000 troops total, Guyana is clearly outgunned. And, while the United States pledged some support in the form of joint exercises shortly after the referendum: “In collaboration with the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) will conduct flight operations within Guyana on December 7,” a Dec. 7 news release from the U.S. Embassy in Guyana read.

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