March 29, 2025 (EIRNS)—Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday threatened to use military force against the Maduro government of Venezuela, should it attack ExxonMobil oil facilities operating in neighboring Guyana’s territorial waters. Against a backdrop of escalating tensions between Venezuela and Guyana in the dispute over Guyana’s oil- and gas-rich Essequibo region, including its offshore area, which Venezuela claims as its own, Rubio’s warning means that the U.S. Southern Command would deploy to “protect” Guyana, in what is really a long-standing British-directed geopolitical dispute that London is manipulating to further its own interests. A military conflict between these two countries, with U.S. involvement, would destabilize the whole region, which is why Brazilian President Lula da Silva and other like-minded leaders have attempted to mediate to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.
Driven by ideology, Rubio will just exacerbate an already tense situation and be no help to President Donald Trump. In his March 27 visit to Guyana, the Secretary signed an MOU placing Guyana under the U.S. “security umbrella,” by which the U.S. commits to safeguarding the country’s “territorial integrity and sovereignty,” as Rubio and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali reported in their March 27 press conference. Having discussed the Venezuelan issue privately with Ali, Rubio charged publicly that “regional threats are based on illegitimate territorial claims by a narco-trafficking regime,” referring to Venezuela’s Maduro government.
