Venezuela criticizes Guyana for "kneeling" to the US and giving in to its "excessive desire" to "steal" energy.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez criticized this Saturday the—in her opinion—unquestionable submission of the Guyanese government, led by President Irfaan Ali, to the United States, after representatives of both governments shared on social media, just hours apart, the same statement on organized crime in which special mention is made of the Venezuelan Cartel of the Suns, recently designated a terrorist organization by the US.

"Irfaan Ali, a pawn of (US Secretary of State) Marco Rubio, spares no opportunity to kowtow to his US masters. The same Guyana Communiqué of August 22, riddled with lies about Venezuela, was published by Marco Rubio at 1:37 PM (and by) Irfaan Ali at 6:15 PM," Rodríguez warned in a Telegram message accompanied by screenshots of Rubio and Ali's posts.

The vice president pointed to this fact as proof that the United States is "the one who rules in Guyana," through the oil company Exxon Mobil, and denounced the collusion between the two countries as a threat to regional peace given the "excessive desire (of the United States) to steal energy from Venezuela at all costs."

In this regard, he insisted that the accusations leveled against the Venezuelan government from the White House are based on "falsehoods and lies" intended to "justify" a possible "intervention" in Venezuela, something that, he added, "the brave people of Bolívar will never allow."

In the aforementioned note, the Government of Guyana warns "with deep concern" of "the threat to peace and security in the region posed by transnational organized crime and narco-terrorism, which often involve criminal networks such as the Cartel of the Suns of Venezuela" , and commits to working with its bilateral partners to "find meaningful solutions (...) aimed at dismantling criminal networks to safeguard (our) shared security.

Delcy Rodríguez's accusations come at a time of heightened tension between the United States and Venezuela, whose enmity has escalated in recent weeks after the Pentagon deployed warships to the region and Caracas followed suit, deploying millions of militiamen to the country, citing a "peace plan" to combat external threats.

In this context, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called for a "readiness day" to join forces and confront the "threats" recently issued by the United States, which advocates using "all its resources" to "put an end to drug trafficking."

This week, Maduro announced the deployment of 4.5 million militia members across the country, a measure that falls under his "peace plan" to guarantee "tranquility and sovereignty" in the face of external threats.

This measure was introduced shortly after the U.S. government set the reward for information leading to the arrest of the Venezuelan president at $50 million (almost €43 million ), raising the figure of $25 million (just over €21 million) announced earlier this year.