Rubio offers US security for oil-rich Guyana

GEORGETOWN

Secretary of State Marco Rubio headed to Guyana on Thursday to offer to put the newly oil-rich nation under the U.S. security umbrella as neighboring Venezuela asserts claims.

A decade after the discovery of vast reserves, the small South American nation is poised this year to become the world's largest producer of oil on a per capita basis, outpacing Qatar and Kuwait.

With tensions on the rise between Guyana and U.S. nemesis Venezuela, Rubio will sign a memorandum of understanding that outlines security cooperation, according to the State Department.

President Donald Trump's administration said it envisioned a relationship with Guyana akin to those with oil-rich Gulf Arab nations, which welcome U.S. troops for their security, particularly against larger neighbor Iran.

"The security of Guyana is a key priority for us in the same way that we have been working with countries in the Gulf states to ensure the security cooperation from the regional threats there," said Mauricio Claver-Carone, the U.S. special envoy on Latin America.

"We've seen the threats from Venezuela," he told reporters ahead of the trip.

"Obviously, that's unacceptable and we want to work together," he said, to "find an agreement towards binding security cooperation."

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.