It also seems clear that the dispute, which centres on control of the Essequibo region in western Guyana, a sparsely populated area the size of Greece that constitutes about two-thirds of Guyanese territory, is mostly about oil. In 2015, the US oil giant, ExxonMobil, discovered a big field off Guyana’s coast, largely within its exclusive economic zone.
The discovery has swollen Guyana’s estimated oil reserves to about 11bn barrels.
Problem is he’s backed into a corner now. He mobilized. How will it look to his supporters if he starts to de-escalate? Reserve troops were pulled from their families, jobs and lives, and for what, political posturing? Yea I don’t think so.
edit: I cannot definitively verify that reserves were mobilized.
Trump did literally the same thing in 2018, and he did it over the holiday season. It was a political stunt through and through.