A map of Venezuela. Photo: Misión Verdad.
By Misión Verdad – May 20, 2025
The Venezuelan government has denounced a series of border provocations orchestrated for destabilizing purposes just ahead of the regional and legislative elections scheduled for May 25.
Two incidents on the borders with Guyana and Colombia have been identified as deliberate attempts to generate tensions and disrupt the national political climate.
On May 15, the Guyana Defense Force (GDF) released a statement stating that alleged armed men in civilian clothes carried out three attacks against Guyanese river patrols along the Cuyuní River.
In response, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil categorically rejected these accusations, identifying them as part of a false flag operation. Evidence gathered by Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) demonstrates that this is a setup intended to victimize the Guyanese government and create fictitious tensions along the de facto border line.
This attempt, Gil indicated, seeks to manipulate international perceptions regarding the territorial situation in the Venezuelan Essequibo.
At the same time, security has been strengthened on the border with Colombia after detecting an infiltration plan by violent groups.
On May 19, the Venezuelan government ordered the immediate suspension of all flights from Colombia in response to the dismantling of a network of mercenaries, explosives experts, and coyotes linked to extremist sectors of the Venezuelan opposition and transnational criminal networks.
The vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and minister of the interior, justice, and peace, Diosdado Cabello, reported that 38 people (17 foreigners and 21 Venezuelans) were arrested for attempting to enter the country covertly to sabotage the electoral process.
These hostile actions are taking place at a key political moment for Venezuela: the May 25 elections, which will also include the election of the governor and the Legislative Council of the state of Guayana Esequiba, in accordance with the sovereign mandate emanating from the December 3, 2023, referendum.
The pattern of destabilization aims not only to sabotage voting in this strategic territory but also to hinder the national electoral process as a whole.
Hidden (and not so hidden) agendas of the Guyanese enclave
On February 18 and May 15 of this year, two false flag operations promoted from Guyana were reported. These aimed to fortify a narrative of alleged aggression by Venezuela.
In both episodes, Guyanese authorities reported alleged clashes with “gang members” or “armed men in civilian clothes” in areas of Essequibo yet to be delimited.
In the first case, the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) categorically denied Guyana’s version of events, stating that the actions were carried out against groups engaged in illicit activities operating with the protection of Guyanese security forces.
In the second case, the Venezuelan government issued an official statement reaffirming that there was no aggression from the Venezuelan side. The document states that:
“All the records, reports, and evidence gathered by our Bolivarian National Armed Force clearly demonstrate that such information is nothing more than part of a new false flag operation orchestrated to victimize the government of Guyana and manufacture artificial tensions along the de facto border. These practices, widely repudiated by the international community, are part of the repertoire of cheap propaganda designed in the laboratories of the US Southern Command, whose true interest is to perpetuate the transnational plundering of the territory of Guayana Esequiba.”
These actions, cloaked in alarmist narratives, reveal a coordinated strategy to spread misinformation, generate international pressure against Venezuela, and lay the groundwork for a military escalation.
In this regard, Executive Vice President and Minister of Hydrocarbons Delcy Rodríguez has warned that these events are part of a broader maneuver to generate a casus belli [an act provoking or justifying war].
On April 5, she reported that a simulated attack was being planned against an ExxonMobil platform in the yet-to-be-delimited Essequibo waters. The intention was to fabricate an excuse to justify armed action or a diplomatic escalation against Venezuela.
Rodríguez alleged that US military contractor Erik Prince and opposition leader María Corina Machado were involved in this operation.
Days later, on April 7, President Nicolás Maduro elaborated on the allegations, stating that the covert operation was coordinated by ExxonMobil executives and Guyanese authorities.
These accusations did not arise in a vacuum: they are part of a pattern that has been accompanied by a narrative offensive from Georgetown [capital of Guyana] with the intention of delegitimizing the elections called by Venezuela for May 25, especially regarding the election of authorities in the Essequibo region.
In this context, it should be recalled that on March 28, the Center for International and Border Studies (CIBS) of Guyana organized a forum entitled “Perspectives on the Border Dispute between Guyana and Venezuela,” which coincided with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Georgetown.
The event served as a platform to reiterate hostile positions toward Venezuela. CIBS Director Mark Kirton described the call for elections in the Essequibo region as a “provocation” and even raised the need to strengthen Guyana’s military capacity with international support, including a possible multinational mission and suggesting, of course, the participation of the US Southern Command.
Although couched in academic language, these statements align with a political strategy that seeks to discredit Venezuelan electoral institutions, justify external interference, and consolidate Guyana as an operational enclave for US interests in the region.
Rubio’s visit to Guyana on March 27 represented a new step in the agenda of conflict promoted by the United States against Venezuela. Although presented as part of a regional tour, Rubio’s stop in Georgetown was intended to consolidate Guyana as a satellite state against Caracas within the framework of the territorial dispute over the Essequibo.
During this visit, Rubio and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali signed a memorandum of understanding on security matters. The content of the document remains classified; however, subsequent statements by both officials reveal the true scope of the agreement: mechanisms for information exchange, military cooperation, and joint actions against “organized crime,” in language that clearly aims to strengthen the US military and intelligence presence in Guyanese territory.
This episode adds to a series of events and narratives that create a scenario ripe for a false flag operation.
The sequence is familiar: a threatening narrative is constructed, a provocation is induced or fabricated, a regional ally is victimized, and coercive actions are legitimized under the guise of “hemispheric security.”
The US secretary of state’s own warning of “serious consequences” for any action by Venezuela against ExxonMobil or Guyana confirms that the ground is being prepared for a premeditated escalation.
This entire framework is dangerously reminiscent of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, used as an excuse to unleash open war. The Ali government is currently playing the same role as a regional proxy under US pretext.
Despite attempts to sabotage the electoral process, May 25 will mark a historic milestone: for the first time, Venezuelans will elect a governor and a legislative body for Guayana Esequiba. This decision not only reaffirms national sovereignty but also legally protects the exercise of popular will over a historically disputed territory.
As Vice President Rodríguez stated:
“The Venezuelan people are determined to defend the Essequibo and its energy resources, and May 25th is a momentous election because we will elect a governor and legislative body for Guayana Esequiba.”
The other front: Colombia
While Venezuela faces destabilization operations from the Guyanese enclave, another front of tension has opened on the western border.
At the end of April, President Maduro denounced the total inaction of Colombian authorities in the face of the growing presence of irregular groups, drug trafficking, and violence crossing into Venezuelan territory.
“The military calls the military there [in Colombia], and they don’t answer the phone. They call the police there and they don’t answer the phone,” he stated, underscoring the institutional silence on the part of Gustavo Petro’s government.
Subsequently, on May 19, the vice president of citizen security, Diosdado Cabello, announced a major national security operation: the arrest of 38 individuals implicated in a destabilization plot that included bomb attacks and electoral sabotage.
Those arrested, including Colombian, Mexican, and Ukrainian citizens, as well as an Albanian with Colombian nationality, were attempting to enter the country by land and air from Colombia. One of them is identified as an international drug trafficker.
This network of mercenaries reportedly received paramilitary training in Ecuador and was funded by Colombian drug traffickers linked to political figures such as Álvaro Uribe, Iván Duque, and Juan Manuel Santos. The objectives of these operations included attacks on embassies, health centers, and other public health institutions, as well as on Venezuelan government authorities.
In direct response, flights from Colombia were indefinitely suspended, a preventative measure to curb further infiltration attempts.
Minister Cabello explained that this decision seeks to protect the May 25 electoral process and prevent foreign actors from projecting an image of chaos to justify international intervention. The air restriction could even remain in place beyond election day, depending on the progress of the investigations.
María Corina Machado and her extremist entourage were accused of being committed to an agenda aimed at thwarting the upcoming electoral process. Her statements and declarations in interviews, both explicit and suggested, reveal a consistent strategy of delegitimization, agitation, and support for plans to destabilize the country. This was stated by Minister Cabello, directly linking her to the recently dismantled conspiracy:
“They want to make it seem that there are no conditions for elections in Venezuela, but the National Electoral Council has met the schedule, and Plan República is already deployed to guarantee the security of the people.”
Later, during a high-level meeting with state security agencies, President Maduro confirmed the arrest of the 38 individuals implicated in the destabilizing plot, as well as the seizure of electronic equipment, weapons, and three cell phones containing sensitive information about the operation.
These elements are key evidence that will allow further investigations aiming to dismantle the entire criminal structure involved.
During his speech, the president also revealed the direct involvement of Albanian mafias operating from Ecuador in coordination with Colombian drug trafficking networks. These criminal networks were allegedly responsible for sending trained mercenaries to carry out bomb attacks in Venezuela.
The Venezuelan president explained that such actions have links to the US contractor Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater [now known as Constellis], and noted that they are part of a larger geopolitical strategy promoted from Washington to destabilize the region. The link between Prince and the security apparatus of Ecuador, one of the epicenters of Andean drug trafficking, is direct, thanks to a relationship of trust between President Daniel Noboa and the former US military officer.
“The objective was clear: to sow terror, delegitimize the elections, and open the doors to external intervention. But they have failed. Venezuela is standing, ready to elect and defend its sovereignty,” the president concluded.
As election day approaches on May 25, the efforts of violent factions operating from the Guyanese enclave and the Colombian border are intensifying. These actions are not isolated incidents but part of a structural agenda that seeks to sabotage the democratic process through a pincer strategy.
The Guayana Esebuiba remains a critical factor but not the only one: it is part of a permanent and comprehensive agenda aimed at destabilizing Venezuela, undermining its institutions, and justifying interventions—of any kind—under false pretexts.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/KW/SL
Misión Verdad
Misión Verdad is a Venezuelan investigative journalism website with a socialist perspective in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution
