GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana’s government on Thursday said it gave permission for the U.S. military to fly two powerful F/A-18F Super Hornet jets over its capital to demonstrate the close military and other forms of cooperation between this oil-exporting South American nation and the United States.

The country had about three hours notice of the exercise through an American embassy announcement but most people appeared to have been surprised by the noisy and unprecedented fly over that comes in the midst of simmering tensions between Guyana and Venezuela over a large swath of Guyana’s territory.

A Guyana government statement said the “exercise seeks to deepen the ongoing security cooperation between our two countries,” but both sides stayed clear of any reference to moves by neighboring Venezuela to annex the oil and mineral-rich Essequibo region.