Attack On Guyana Would Be "Bad Day, Bad Week" For Venezuela: Marco Rubio

Top US diplomat Marco Rubio on Thursday issued a stern warning against Venezuela if it escalates its claims against newly oil-rich Guyana, brandishing the power of the US military to protect the small South American nation.

Venezuela, whose leftist leader Nicolas Maduro is a sworn enemy of the Cuban-American Rubio, has laid claim to Guyana's Essequibo, which covers most of the country and is the centre of oil production.

"I have full confidence saying it now as secretary of state -- there will be consequences for adventurism. There will be consequences for aggressive action," Rubio told a joint news conference.

Asked what the United States would do if Venezuela attacks ExxonMobil oil projects in Guyana, Rubio said: "It would be a very bad day -- a very bad week for them."

"It would not end well for them," he said to applause from Guyanese officials assembled in a fanned outdoor pavilion in the tropical heat.

While stopping short of spelling out a US military response, Rubio said: "We have a big navy, and it can get almost anywhere."

Rubio signed an agreement to boost security cooperation with Guyana including through greater information sharing. The United States and Guyana earlier agreed to joint maritime patrols.

Guyanese President Irfaan Ali welcomed the stance of Rubio, who called Venezuela's claims "illegitimate."

"I'm very pleased at the reassurance of the US, ensuring the safeguard of our territorial integrity and sovereignty," Ali said.

Mauricio Claver-Carone, the US special envoy on Latin America, earlier said that the United States envisioned a future "binding" security relationship with Guyana similar to the US position in the oil-rich Gulf.

The United States stations troops in Gulf Arab nations to ensure the small petro-states' security, in particular against larger neighbor Iran.

US Expands In Hemisphere 

Guyana, an English-speaking former British and Dutch colony where the majority of the 800,000 people still live in poverty, has for years had a long-shot movement that has sought to join the United States.

Such formal accession was not on the agenda, but Trump has made no secret of his passion for expansionism in the Western Hemisphere, even at the expense of traditional alliances.

The Republican billionaire has vowed to take control of Greenland from Denmark and to "take back" the Panama Canal.

While Exxon has dominated the oil industry, China -- viewed by the Trump administration as the top global adversary -- has made rapid inroads in Guyana with infrastructure projects including an expansion of the international airport where Rubio landed.

Meanwhile, Guyana earlier in March denounced what it called a Venezuelan military vessel's incursion into its waters.

Venezuela denied any violation and requested a meeting with Ali, who dismissed the offer.

The parliament in Caracas last year approved a bill to declare Guyana's Essequibo as Venezuela's 24th state, a move rejected internationally.

Guyana insists the border was finalized by an 1899 arbitration panel, but Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region's east as a natural border recognized as far back as 1777.

The Trump administration has put a high priority on ramping up oil production, seeing both economic and security incentives, and has brushed aside the push by previous president Joe Biden to diversify to renewables to address the planet's fast-rising temperatures and climate disasters.

Texas-based ExxonMobil has taken the lead in oil production in Guyana, which has rapidly scaled up over the past five years.

ExxonMobil anticipates gross production from Guyana of 1.3 million barrels a day by the end of the decade, dwarfing current output from Venezuela, whose industry has slumped since the 1990s after mismanagement and US sanctions.

The Trump administration, under pressure from anti-communist Latino lawmakers, has canceled US oil major Chevron's exemption from US sanctions to operate in Venezuela.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)