Venezuela has decided to deploy more than 5,000 soldiers on its eastern Caribbean coast after neighboring Guyana received a warship from the UK amid a dispute over the Essequibo territory, according to President Nicolas Maduro.
“Venezuela has the right to defend itself, to tranquility, to peace,” Maduro said Thursday on state TV, while accusing Guyana of violating an agreement signed two weeks ago to continue talks over the oil-rich territory without the use of arms. “We do not accept provocations, threats from anything or anyone.”