Given the capabilities of the HMS Trent, which is anchored offshore Guyana, Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo clarified today that it is a British “patrol vessel” and not a “warship” as initially reported by BBC. He explained during a press engagement at the Office of the President today that the vessel is here as part of an exercise to deepen defense cooperation, specifically to protect Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) against non-state players like illegal fisherfolk and drug smugglers.
“If you go online and you goggle HMS Trent and see what its capabilities are, this is by no standard a warship. When you say warship, it connotates a different kind of aggression,” the vice president said.
He noted that the HMS was scheduled to conduct an exercise in Barbados and then make its way to Guyana. He also said this is not the vessel’s first trip to Guyana.
Even as he underscored that Guyana is not an aggressive State and has no ill intent against Venezuela, the Vice President maintained, “We still have to work with our allies; there are lots of things we need to know and to do…”
The Guyanese official made the foregoing clarification on the heels of comments on Thursday morning by Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton. During his press conference, Norton acknowledged the importance of Guyana strengthening its defence cooperation in light of Venezuela’s aggressive claims for Essequibo. Be that as it may, Norton said the arrival of the vessel is untimely, especially when one considers that Guyana and Venezuela signed onto a peace pact on December 14 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to refrain from any acts that would inflame tensions.
Norton reminded that when Venezuelan authorities learned of the arrival of the vessel, President Nicolás Maduro ordered military exercises to be conducted with over 5,000 troops near the Essequibo territory. Norton said Guyana needs to be very mindful of what it accepts and when.
He said, “Now, we do need the support of the British…but we also must develop the political sense and maturity to know we have to be selective in what we’re doing and understand the context in which things are done and be very careful not to do things in a particular framework that will do harm to first of all, our entire case before the ICJ (International Court of Justice) and secondly, to the peace that you are pursuing.”
He added, “We could have engaged the British to say we welcome (the exercises), but the timing is bad…”
Norton said the government should have postponed the ship’s arrival by a month or a later time.
In response, Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo said he was surprised to learn that Norton, a Guyanese, would take such a position. Irrespective of his counterpart’s reservations, Dr. Jagdeo said, “We don’t have (any) apology to make for building relationships with our allies in a defensive capacity.”
