ベネズエラが石油資源豊富なガイアナ攻撃すれば武力行使、米国務長官が警告

【ジョージタウン（ガイアナ）ＡＦＰ＝時事】米国のマルコ・ルビオ国務長官は２７日、ベネズエラが新たに石油資源を発見した隣国ガイアナを攻撃すれば、米軍の力を行使してガイアナを守ると厳しく警告した。（写真は、ガイアナのジョージタウンで会談し、握手を交わすガイアナのイルファーン・アリ大統領（左）とマルコ・ルビオ米国務長官）
　キューバ系米国人のルビオ氏が嫌うニコラス・マドゥロ大統領率いるベネズエラは、ガイアナが実効支配するエセキボ地域の領有権の主張を強めており、今月初めには侵入したと非難された。
　ガイアナを訪問したルビオ氏は共同記者会見で、「今、国務長官として断言できる。冒険主義には結果が伴う。攻撃的な行動には結果が伴う」と述べた。
　米石油大手エクソンモービルによるガイアナでの石油事業をベネズエラが攻撃した場合、米国はどう対応するかと問われたルビオ氏は、「彼らにとって非常に悪い日、非常に悪い週になるだろう」と答えた。
　軍事的な対応を明言することは避けたが、ルビオ氏は「われわれは強力な海軍を有しており、ほぼどこにでも行ける」と述べた。
　ルビオは、情報共有の強化などを通じてガイアナとの安全保障協力を強化する協定に署名した。両国は数年前、共同海上パトロールに合意していた。
　ガイアナのイルファーン・アリ大統領は、ベネズエラの主張を「不当」と呼んだルビオ氏の立場を歓迎し、「米国の保証により、わが国の領土保全と主権が確保されることを非常に嬉しく思う」と述べた。
　ベネズエラのイバン・ヒル外相はテレグラムでの声明で、ルビオ氏の発言を米政府の「脅しと虚勢の古いシナリオ」として拒否し、「われわれは紛争を必要とせず、求めてもいないが、外国の利益がわが国のエセキボに関する現実を書き換えようとすることも許さない」「この紛争から手を引け！」と付け加えた。
　米国のマウリシオ・クラベルカロネ中南米特使は以前、米国が湾岸地域と同様の「拘束力のある」安全保障関係をガイアナと築くことを構想していると述べた。湾岸地域では、米軍が石油資源の豊富なアラブ君主国を特にイランから守っている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2025/03/28-17:59）

Top US diplomat Marco Rubio on Thursday bluntly warned Venezuela against attacking its oil-rich neighbor Guyana, brandishing the power of the US military to protect the small South American nation.
Venezuela, whose leftist leader Nicolas Maduro is despised by the Cuban-American Rubio, has increasingly pushed its claim to the disputed Essequibo region controlled by Guyana, and was accused earlier this month of making an incursion.
I have full confidence saying it now as secretary of state -- there will be consequences for adventurism. There will be consequences for aggressive action, Rubio told a joint news conference on a visit to Guyana.
Asked what the United States would do if Venezuela attacked ExxonMobil oil projects in Guyana, Rubio said: It would be a very bad day -- a very bad week for them.
Stopping short of spelling out a military response, Rubio said: We have a big navy, and it can get almost anywhere.
Maduro responded angrily to the threat, calling Rubio an imbecile and saying no one threatens Venezuela.
While in Guyana, Rubio signed an agreement to boost security cooperation with the country including through greater information sharing. It comes years after Guyana and the United States agreed to joint maritime patrols.
Guyanese President Irfaan Ali welcomed the stance of Rubio, who called Venezuela's claims illegitimate.
I'm very pleased at the reassurance of the US, ensuring the safeguard of our territorial integrity and sovereignty, Ali said.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil, in a statement on Telegram, said his country did not need nor seek conflicts, but neither will we allow foreign interests to try to rewrite the reality about our Essequibo.
Get your noses out of this dispute! he added.
Mauricio Claver-Carone, the US special envoy on Latin America, earlier said that the United States envisioned a future binding security relationship with Guyana similar to the Gulf region, where US troops protect oil-rich Arab monarchies, particularly against larger neighbor Iran.
Rubio later visited neighboring Suriname, whose oil production has also been rising.
- US seeks advantage against China -
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.
Such formal accession was not on the agenda, but Trump has made no secret of his passion for expansionism in the Western Hemisphere, even at the expense of traditional alliances.
The Republican billionaire has vowed to take control of Greenland from Denmark and to take back the Panama Canal, pointing to rising Chinese influence.
While Exxon has dominated the oil industry, China -- viewed by the Trump administration as the top global adversary -- has made rapid inroads in Guyana with infrastructure projects including an expansion of the international airport where Rubio landed.
Trump has proposed imposing major fees on vessels linked to China, but the idea has hit opposition from US farmers as well as Caribbean nations which say they have little option and will take a hit.
Rubio said it was dangerous to have one country in the world building all the ships.
But in a shift in tone from Trump's usual uncompromising position, Rubio acknowledged concerns among Caribbean nations and said he would advise US trade policymakers of the risks of hurting US partners.
Rest assured we will take that message back, Rubio said.
- Rapid oil growth -
The parliament in Caracas last year approved a bill to declare the Essequibo region, which makes up two-thirds of Guyanese territory, as Venezuela's 24th state, a move rejected internationally.
Guyana insists the border was finalized by an 1899 arbitration panel, but Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region's east as a natural border recognized as far back as 1777.
Texas-based ExxonMobil has taken the lead in offshore oil exploration, which has rapidly scaled up since the 2015 discovery of huge crude reserves.
ExxonMobil anticipates gross production from Guyana of 1.3 million barrels a day by the end of the decade, dwarfing current output from Venezuela.
The Trump administration, under pressure from anti-communist Latino lawmakers, has canceled US oil major Chevron's exemption from US sanctions to operate in Venezuela.