2024-02-10 10:15:59
Irfaan Ali, president of Guyana, announced this Thursday that he plans a restructuring of the Guyana Defense Force (GDF) and will make significant investments in military equipment focused on technology, assets and collaboration with allied countries, while disputing a territorial border with Venezuela.
“There will be, in our assessment, some reorientation and reorganization in the way we do our work and accomplish our tasks,” Ali said this Thursday at the opening of the 2024 Annual Officers Conference.
The decision of the Guyanese government adds tension to relations with Venezuela, following both governments committed to lowering the tone of the diatribe they have over the claim to the Essequibo territory.
The Guyanese president acknowledged that the GDF restructuring plan will include reactivating the different levels of aid with the types of assets in which they will invest, as well as structural changes.
“To whom much has been given, much will be required,” Ali added in reference to a biblical passage.
Thus, under the $201 million budget for the GDF, the agency hopes to acquire helicopters, maritime surveillance vessels and at least one drone.
For his part, Jon Finer, one of the main foreign advisors to US President Joe Biden, who was in Guyana in early February, said that both countries were “deeply cooperating” to assist the South American country in preserving its borders.
In addition to the United States, France and the United Kingdom have also raised their defense cooperation with Guyana, which is in a territorial dispute with Venezuela over the Essequibo region.
Given this, Ali assured that his country was not involved in a “arms war” with Venezuela, a country that he described as its “formidable neighbor to the west.”
Ali, in turn, acknowledged that although his Government is committed to renewing its defense force, it does not intend to “overstretch our financial resources.”
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