The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela informs the country and the International Community that yesterday, the twelve Guyanese citizens detained on January 23rd, after being found by the Bolivarian Navy in Venezuelan territorial waters while fishing illegally, on board the vessels Lady Nayera and Sea Wolf, were released.
The Venezuelan Government wishes to recognize that this measure of grace, motu proprio, constitutes a genuine initiative in favor of peace, responding to the most sincere interest that the Caribbean remains a Peace Zone, as well as to the intermediation of the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago, in benefit of the stability of the region and the good coexistence as neighbors.
In this sense, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela takes this opportunity to reiterate to the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guayana its willingness to settle any dispute always in adherence to respect and the principles of International Law, and therefore requests that it abandon its victimization campaign against the Venezuelan Government and rectify its position on those differences that nothing have to do with the existing territorial dispute between the two countries, in the interest of good neighborliness to serve as a guarantor of regional stability and peace.
Caracas, February 3rd, 2021