I'm John Batson with my good colleagues, Ernesto Arushu and Joseph Umar. Joseph, the news in Venezuela was,

is that the Trump administration has suspended, taken off the waiver, allowed, allowing Venezuela to sell its oil through Chevron.

Why? Because they're,

we're told, not cooperating about returning migrants and or they're bringing brutal towards their own people. We know this because of the illegitimate election last summer. However,

there's new trouble as well. This is Reuters reporting on the 1st of March.

Guinez President Ali said that a Venezuela Coast Guard patrol entered Guineas waters

approaching an output vessel in an offshore oil block managed by Exxon.

Here, Joseph, is what you've been warning about for about a year.

Venezuela is moving against its very tiny and very helpless neighbor that has billions of

very good light sweet crude in its offshore drilling sites. Exxon has done the exploration. It's ready to start production, I understand.

However, Guiana knows that Venezuela counterclaims. This move, was it a surprise to you, Joseph?

Well, it is and it isn't. And as you mentioned, John, I've been talking about this

mounting conflict between Venezuela and Guyano over a border dispute for the last year, because over the last year, pretty much since September 2023, Nicholas Maduro has been basically mounting a military presence along that border. But I've also pointed several times to not the land border, but the maritime border, because I think that's strategically the most relevant.

You got to understand from Guyana to Venezuela is perhaps the only or the main shipping lanes that go from the Atlantic to the Caribbean.

But one of the reasons those shipping lanes aren't open is because of the border dispute and tense relationship between the two countries.

So there have been incursions in the past by Venezuela into Guini's territorial waters,

but I perhaps haven't seen one that went as deep into those waters as what happened this past

Saturday.

This past Saturday, an ocean patrol vessel of Guyana called the P.O.11 Guaikeri, which is basically a Coast Guard vessel by Venezuela,

armed with stealth technology, as well as with armament, including anti-ship missiles that were

provided to Venezuela by China. This warship, this vessel entered not only into Guyana's waters,

but deep into the offshore oil fields that they have in a block called the Stabrook block, specifically the lease oil fields.

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