Request for help came after Venezuelan president announced series of measures to formalize a referendum Sunday evening

Guyana has appealed for help from the United Nations and the United States as the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, announced a series of measures intended to advance its annexation of two-thirds of the tiny South American nation’s territory.

“I have spoken to the secretary general of the United Nations and several leaders, alerting them of these dangerous developments and the desperate actions of President Maduro,” Irfaan Ali, president of Guyana, said in a television broadcast late on Tuesday, as he informed the nation of 800,000 of Maduro’s latest steps intended to create a new Venezuelan state in Guyana.

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Considering how much and often we’ve historically fucked over the vast majority of South America, it’d be nice for once if we actually helped them - particularly since Guyana is the one on the defensive here and they’re literally asking for help against an invasion, and the invading party very much does not have power-parity with the US. It would go a long way towards starting to recover the reputation of the US in our neighboring continent to the south. And we’ve got a LOT of recovering to do.

      • Patapon Enjoyer@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        US: Yeah we’ll help Guyana. And by help we mean putting a military base or ten in a resource-rich region that hates US presence. You’re welcome, jack. No, this isn’t at all like the Middle East shut up

        • Pringles@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          That would probably improve the infrastructure and economy of that region, so I don’t think they would mind that much. It’s scarcely populated jungle now, so the roads they would put in alone would be helpful.

          • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It really needs emphasized how sparse the country is. They only have 800,000 people in a country the size of Kansas. Kansas is known as barely populated farmland, and they have 3,000,000 people. They are 83rd in the world by size of country but 166th in the world by population.

    • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Brazil has already mobilized forces on the border with Venezuela. I thought Guyana also had a mutual defense treaty with the US, but I’m not finding it right now. They aren’t part of the Rio Pact, but Venezuela is.

        • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          They are in the Rio pact, which has most South American countries including Venezuela, but not Guyana.

          • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Well, that’s a little Ironic

            The lesson of this chapter of history is probably going to be called

            “Ok look WWI was bad but that doesn’t mean you forego defensive alliances entirely you scared turtles!”

  • Additional_Prune@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    “Maduro’s increasingly bellicose rhetoric over Essequibo is seen by analysts as an attempt to distract from a series of overlapping crises at home” I guess “blame the gays” didn’t poll as well as “invade a neighbor.”

  • jantin@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Ohhh elections, so the plan is to get bogged down in a low-intensity border conflict and then say “oh no, we can’t do the voting in the middle of a war!”