(Opinion) – Guyanese are often misguided into believing that the United States would launch military action against Venezuela if Caracas should launch a military offensive on Guyana to take the Essequibo.
Hence, they mistakenly believe that it is the United States that is deterring Caracas. But they are certainly wrong.
The reality is that the United States would not intervene militarily in such a stand-off, and for more reasons than a lot of us would want to accept.
After all, basic research would show that ironically, it was the United States that had backed Venezuela in the past, and encouraged them to lay claim to the Essequibo.
As a matter of fact, the United States President Grover Cleveland had made it clear in an address to the US Congress on 17 December 1895, that the US was willing to go to war with Britain if necessary over the Essequibo.
An extract of his speech provoked that belief in which he had pressed for a commission, “to resist, by every means in its power as a willful aggression, upon its rights and interests any British attempt to exercise jurisdiction over a territory the United States judged as Venezuelan”.https://www.guyanaguardian.com/the-real-reason-why-venezuela-is-not-attacking-guyana-militarily-for-the-essequibo/
Hence, they mistakenly believe that it is the United States that is deterring Caracas. But they are certainly wrong.
The reality is that the United States would not intervene militarily in such a stand-off, and for more reasons than a lot of us would want to accept.
After all, basic research would show that ironically, it was the United States that had backed Venezuela in the past, and encouraged them to lay claim to the Essequibo.
As a matter of fact, the United States President Grover Cleveland had made it clear in an address to the US Congress on 17 December 1895, that the US was willing to go to war with Britain if necessary over the Essequibo.
An extract of his speech provoked that belief in which he had pressed for a commission, “to resist, by every means in its power as a willful aggression, upon its rights and interests any British attempt to exercise jurisdiction over a territory the United States judged as Venezuelan”.https://www.guyanaguardian.com/the-real-reason-why-venezuela-is-not-attacking-guyana-militarily-for-the-essequibo/