GEORGETOWN.- The embassy of USAin Guyana reported that, at 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 9, two United States Navy aircraft, F/A-18F Super Hornets, embarked on the USS George Washington, performed a flyby “coordinated and approved by the GDF over Georgetown and its surrounding areas.
According to the announcement, which was published on social network X, this operation had “the collaboration and support” of the Government of Guyana headed by President Irfaan Ali.
For its part, in a statement, the Guyanese government confirmed the overflight: “The Government of Guyana approved the overflight of two F/A18F Super Hornets of the United States Navy in Georgetown (…) on May 9, 2024”.
It was also explained that the exercise “is carried out as part of the defense cooperation pact between Guyana and the United States of America and seeks to deepen the security in the ongoing cooperation program between our two countries.”.
Dispute with Guyana
The overflight of the US planes takes place in the middle of the border conflict that Guyana has with Venezuela over the territory of the Essequibo and which led to both countries presenting their arguments before the International Criminal Court (ICC) last April.
The Minister of Defense of the Nicolás Maduro regime, General in Chief Vladimir Padrino López, rejected this Thursday’s military exercise.
“The Bolivarian National Armed Force forcefully rejects these repeated provocations by the Southern Command, sponsored by the government of Guyana, which has assumed the role of a new North American colony. Our Comprehensive Aerospace Defense System remains activated against any attempt to violate Venezuelan geographical space, including our Essequibo Territory, Alerts!”, expressed the soldier.
For the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Yván Gil, the overflight of the planes “threatens the peace zone” agreed upon between Maduro and President Irfaan Alí.
In February of this year, the US government announced that it will increase its urgent military aid to Guyana, while Venezuela threatens to seize a large part of the country’s territory that it has long claimed as its own. In that sense, Washington promised to help Guyana buy new planes, helicopters, a fleet of military drones and, for the first time, radar technology.
Source: United States Embassy in Guyana / AFP / Maduro’s Minister of Defense
