Guyana’s government is shopping around the globe for equipment to boost its military capabilities in the face of territorial threats from neighboring Venezuela, acquiring transport planes from India, sourcing patrol vessels from France, and helicopters and other hardware from the U.S. among other nations, using millions of dollars from its newly found offshore oil wealth, officials have said.
In the past week, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) nation signed a $42 million deal with France to acquire a brand-new offshore military patrol vessel capable of patrolling the high seas and monitoring offshore oil assets and waters claimed by Venezuela. Venezuela recently promulgated a law annexing Guyana’s mineral and oil-rich western Essequibo region, which it has claimed for decades as its own. The promulgation followed a controversial earlyDecember referendum to incorporate the region as Venezuela’s.
The French vessel will be put into service next year along with two Metal Shark military patrol vessels from the U.S. that will arrive in the coming weeks. The local military has already ordered four medium-range helicopters from Bell Corporation of Texas, a number of long-range drones, and night vision equipment, among other hardware, from the U.S. as well. And just last week, two 19-seater Dornier 228 fixed-wing aircraft arrived from India to join the growing fleet of the Guyana Defense Force as tensions between Guyana and Venezuela linger amid the recent annexation of the Essequibo and the creation of a Venezuelan state known as the Guayana Esequiba.
Guyana President Irfaan Ali has said that efforts to acquire other equipment to boost the capability of the military are ongoing. Initial spending is around $201 million.
“As we grow, the threats are going to become more sophisticated,” Ali told a recent military officers conference. “While we are a peaceful state, no one should underestimate our resolve at protecting our territory and safeguarding national sovereignty. Let not our peaceful intent be mistaken for weakness. As I said recently, we will not bend to threats nor cower in the face of intimidation.”
The rebuilding of the military comes as a string of senior western and American government officials have visited the country in recent months, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, CIA Director William. J. Burns last month, U.S. Southern Military Commander Gen. Laura Richardson, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Western Hemisphere Daniel P. Erikson, and Western Hemisphere Senior Director Juan González, among others. French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné has also come calling, while the British have sent David Rutley, its minister of the Americas, Caribbean, and Overseas Territories for high-level talks as he reiterated unwavering support for Guyana.
The agreement with the French came in the same week that Venezuela filed its legal defense of its claims to the Essequibo at the World Court in the Netherlands, beating the court by just a few hours.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodrigues criticized the French acquisition in a social media posting this week, noting that the military build-up is part of a plot with the U.S. and western nations to ferment instability in Latin America. President Nicolas Maduro has also accused the U.S. of building military bases in Guyana, charges that Washington has denied.
“The false victim Guyana buys an ocean patrol vessel from a French company. Guyana, together with the United States, its Western partners, and its former colonial master, constitute a threat to the peace of our region. Venezuela will continue to monitor these actions by Guyana and will persist on the path of international legality,” Rodrigues said in the same week Guyana has asked the United Nations Security Council to discuss Venezuelan threats in a closed-door session in New York.
Putting the spike in spending in context, Professor Nigel Westmaas of Hamilton College in New York says the Venezuelan threat is both real and existential.
“One of the most pressing reasons for Guyana to increase its military spending is the long-standing territorial dispute with Venezuela over the Essequibo region, for which it has regional and significant UN support,” Westmaas said. “Venezuela’s economic and political crises and President Maduro’s public statements and actions have exacerbated tensions, and Guyana may feel the need to strengthen its military as a deterrent against potential aggression.”
Westmaas added that “if the country’s focus shifts too heavily toward military expansion at the expense of critical infrastructure, such as the electrical grid, this could lead to more public dissatisfaction.”
Regular blackouts could undermine confidence in the government’s ability to use new wealth effectively for public welfare, which would have an impact on national unity—vital for maintaining Guyana’s territorial integrity alongside increased defense efforts.