Tension over the border region of Essequibo has raised worries about a military conflict, with Venezuela insisting Essequibo was part of its territory during the Spanish colonial period and arguing a 1966 Geneva agreement with Britain and the country then called British Guiana, now Guyana, nullified a border drawn in 1899 by international arbitrators.

The dispute was reignited with the discovery of oil in Guyana and escalated when Venezuela voted in a referendum on 3 December to claim two-thirds of its smaller neighbour.

The offshore patrol vessel HMS Trent is in Barbados over Christmas and will then head to Guyana for activities which will be carried out at sea.

Earlier this month, the Foreign Office minister for the Americas and Caribbean, David Rutley, visited Guyana.

HMS Trent is a River-class patrol vessel, designed for work including what the government describes as “defence diplomacy”.

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