The Venezuelan military says it has raised its alert level following the discovery of an alleged U.S. plot to fabricate an incident at an ExxonMobil offshore platform in the contested waters between Venezuela and Guyana to justify an armed conflict.
The Venezuelan Defense Ministry issued a statement on Sunday claiming the plot was designed to create a pretext for conflict in the long-contested Essequibo region—a mineral-rich area roughly the size of Florida that Venezuela claims as its own but has been under Guyanese control since an 1899 arbitration ruling.
The statement came a day after Vice President Delcy Rodríguez accused the United States, the Guyanese government, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, and Erik Prince—founder of the private military firm Blackwater—of conspiring to launch a military operation against Venezuela. Rodríguez claimed the “false flag” plot would begin with an attack on the ExxonMobil platform in the contested waters.
“This plot aims to stage an attack on an ExxonMobil platform operating in waters extending into the yet-to-be-delimited Essequibo region, with the intention of justifying retaliatory and hostile actions against our nation,” said Rodríguez, a close ally of President Nicolás Maduro, during a televised address on Saturday.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López reaffirmed the government’s stance on Sunday, saying the military is taking Rodríguez’s accusations seriously.
“The Bolivarian National Armed Force remains on alert in response to the allegations made by Vice President Rodríguez regarding a new imperialist conspiracy by the United States to carry out a false flag operation against the ExxonMobil platform near Guyana’s maritime border,” López said in the ministry’s communiqué.
In a strongly worded statement, López condemned what he described as the fabrication of “false positives” —a reference to staged incidents used to provoke military action. He accused the U.S. of employing such tactics as part of a broader strategy to justify interventions.
“These false incidents are part of a longstanding imperial playbook used to manipulate public opinion and justify unwarranted interventions,” López said. “This modus operandi — provoking conflict and then invading sovereign nations with military and economic force — has become a worn-out script that no longer holds credibility in the eyes of the international community.”
The ExxonMobil platform has become a focal point of rising tensions since late February, when a Venezuelan warship entered the disputed waters, prompting warnings from Washington. The incident led to a strong rebuke from U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio during his recent visit to Georgetown.
“It would be a very bad day for the Venezuelan regime if they attacked Guyana or ExxonMobil,” Rubio said. “We have a large navy, and it can reach almost anywhere in the world. We are committed to Guyana.”
The border dispute, which dates back more than 180 years, has escalated significantly in recent months. In December 2023, Maduro held a controversial referendum that claimed overwhelming public support—98% according to official figures—for military action to claim the Essequibo region. The vote was widely criticized for alleged fraud and lack of transparency.
Since then, Maduro has doubled down on Venezuela’s claim, declaring the Essequibo region a new Venezuelan state, increasing military presence near the border, and announcing plans to hold regional elections there to install a governor —moves condemned by the international community.
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