The People’s Power Minister for Defense, G / J Vladimir Padrino López, reported that by orders of the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro, the FANB’s Operational Strategic Command (CEOFANB) will begin patrolling and permanent observation by air and sea of the Venezuelan jurisdictional spaces, especially the Atlantic Façade, with the aim of defending the sovereignty and independence of the national territory against imperial threats.
“We have exercised permanent sovereignty in Venezuelan jurisdictional waters that are not being controversial, since they are part of the geographical space of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”, he said.
In this context, he explained that this patrol is due to the military exercises started this Monday between the United States and the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, which have been classified by the FANB as “a threat to the entire region, a threat to peace and a clear provocation to the interests of the Homeland.”
Likewise, Padrino explained that these actions by the US and Guyana are part of the strategies instructed by the Donald Trump administration, “which seek to generate and create a state of anxiety and threat, not only against Venezuela, but also a threat to the entire region of South America and the Caribbean.”
Finally, the Defense Minister stressed that the territorial controversy over the Essequibo should be settled only between Guyana and Venezuela in a practical, peaceful and satisfactory way for both parties, as established in the 1966 Geneva Agreement.