Venezuela is expanding its troop presence on the border with Guyana

Despite pledging to curb tensions with Guyana, the Venezuelan regime is expanding its military presence on the country’s border, while increasing the scale of its saber-rattling against the neighboring country, amid poor results in the elections. ruler Nicolás Maduro ahead. of the July presidential elections.

Satellite photos evaluated by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, showed this week that Venezuela now has “substantial amounts of personnel and equipment in locations near the disputed border,” especially near the expanding military base on the border. island of Anacoco.

The think tank, which had reported the start of the build-up in February, reiterated in its report that the troop movement is part of what it called a “strategy of coercion” aimed at scaring Guyana into making key concessions to Venezuela. But now the trick also seems to have an effect within Venezuela, given Maduro’s low position in the ballot box.

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The latest surveys show Maduro losing the July 28 elections by more than 40 points (62% to 20%) against presidential candidate Edumundo González, a former diplomat backed by opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. Although the regime is often accused of winning elections through fraud, the margin is seen by some international observers as too large to steal.

The military build-up, which the Washington center unveiled in a report this week, is in line with regular announcements made by the regime’s military through state TV stations, in a ceaseless propaganda campaign reiterating that the Essequibo , an oil- and mineral-rich region that is increasingly popular, about two-thirds of Guyana legitimately belongs to Venezuela.

The increased troop presence in Anacoco is accompanied by greater activity at the airport and coast guard station in Guiria, the largest city on Venezuela’s northern coast, 90 kilometers west of Trinidad.

Recent military exercises have also brought hundreds of additional soldiers to the area.

“We are seeing through satellite images the increasingly rapid build-up of the military base in Anacoco, where they have just built a bridge and brought in a number of new tanks,” said Christopher Hernandez-Roy, deputy director and senior fellow of the Americas Program at the central in a spoken commentary to the report.

“They are deploying additional naval assets and aircraft in the town of Guiria, including Zolfaghar missile boats, and there has been a huge amount of naval activity ‘telegraphed’ through social media and they are using a lot of fuel while there is gas. shortages in Venezuela,” he added.

In an effort to defuse tensions, Guyana and Venezuela had pledged in December not to threaten or use force against each other and not to escalate the age-old border dispute, following a diplomatic row sparked when Maduro held a referendum asking his government to call for special powers requested. to invade his neighbor.

Despite the assurances, however, tensions have persisted and Maduro has tried to keep the issue alive within Venezuela through repeated TV spots claiming that the regime is overturning Venezuela’s claim to the Florida-sized region, which has been under Guyanese control since 1899 state, will not surrender.

The Washington Center report notes that Maduro’s position within Venezuela has eroded in recent weeks amid Machado’s challenge, a situation that makes the ruler “even more beholden” to the armed forces.

“Maduro hopes to receive several things through the build-up in return for the armed forces amassing more power, especially their loyalty as he calls on them “to suppress and secure the security of his regime after July 28, when it seems likely that the regime will act shamelessly.” steal the presidential election,” the report said.