The Brazilian army confirmed late Wednesday, without elaborating, that it had detected an increased presence of Venezuelan troops along the border with neighboring Guyana, the target of threats from Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
In recent days, Maduro, after a referendum held last Sunday showed that 95.96% of Venezuelans who went to the polls support his territorial claims, has stepped up threats to annex the Essequibo region, which corresponds to 70% of the territory, into Venezuela. Guyana has, among other things, large reserves of oil, gold and diamonds.
The Brazilian army’s top brass have failed to secure an increase in the number of Venezuelan troops sent to the disputed border area. But the expansion of this military presence was significant enough to be noticed by Brazilian observers.
Officially, Brazil continues to believe that the possibility of Venezuela actually invading Guyana and forcibly annexing the Essequibo territory is unlikely. In principle, all this is similar to Maduro’s tactic of using the nationalism of Venezuelans to increase his popularity and chances of re-election in the next presidential elections. However, since the Venezuelan dictator is considered unpredictable, Brazil has already begun to strengthen its borders with Venezuela.
In recent days, after Maduro raised the tone in relations with Guyana and even threatened the United States, allies of the Guyanese government, not to intervene in the conflict, the Brazilian army sent 28 more tanks and armored vehicles, as well as large quantities of ammunition, to the state of Roraima. , in the far north of the country and borders Venezuela and Guyana.
The military squadron of Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima, doubled in size from 200 to 400 soldiers, and the squadron of Pacaraima, the Brazilian city where the main border crossing with Venezuela is located, increased from 30 to 130 soldiers. soldiers.
Venezuela shares an extensive border with Guyana, right on Essequibo territory, but the extremely rugged terrain and dense, dense forest prevent a large-scale land invasion there. Thus, if Venezuela ultimately wants to carry out Maduro’s threats and invade Guyana, it will have to enter Brazilian territory through Pacaraima and cross the state of Roraima to the cities of Bomfim and Normandy, on the border with Guyana.
Author: Domingos Grilo Serrinha This correspondent in Brazil
Source: CM Jornal
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