Defense Minister of Venezuela: 'We Have Won!'

The Venezuelan minister for defense, Vladimir Padrino López, has issued a New Year’s greeting to the Venezuelan people stating that “in this year 2024, we are still victorious.”

In a statement published this Wednesday, January 1, the military leader spoke on behalf of the women and men who make up the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB). Below, you can read the full unofficial translation of the statement:

At the dawn of 2025, we contemplate the path we have undertaken and appreciate a positive balance in the missions we have been entrusted with and achievements we have obtained; recognizing in each one of them, the tenacious effort of an entire united people that have known how to overcome multiple obstacles and adversities in different areas of national life. Therefore, with the satisfaction of duty fulfilled, the members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces can affirm that in this 2024 we remain victorious, strengthening the supreme values of sovereignty, self-determination, and independence, as well as the ethical commitment to continue contributing to national reunion and unity.

We have kept intact the most outstanding achievements of the Bolivarian Project: the Comprehensive Defense of the Homeland; participatory and leading democracy; the people’s military-police unity; the monolithic unity of all the state institutions; and of course, the peace of the republic. This victory has been achieved with arduous hours of collective work, little time for rest, and, in many cases, distanced from our loved ones. By virtue of so much effort, courage, and determination, I want to express my most sincere words of recognition, gratitude, and congratulations to the entire great military family, to which we belong with unfathomable pride.

We bid farewell to this year imbued with the fire, determination, and courage that the bicentennial glories that the Battles of Junín and Ayacucho left us; and inspired by the stoicism, decorum, discipline, and perseverance of our liberators, we will continue to take on the coming challenges that this complex historic era demands of us. May the fighting spirit of the epic days of the emancipatory feat continue to lead us along the path of triumph and glory! May honor and dignity continue to be the permanent compass in the battles that we will continue to fight! May the Supreme Creator and the Blessed Virgin bless you and accompany you always! Happy New Year, beloved People of Venezuela!

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The minister also posted a message on social media to the entire military family and the Venezuelan people. “They tried to set our streets alight with violence during 2024, but they couldn’t,” read the post. “The will to win of this country prevailed. The men and women bravely came out in perfect people’s, military, and police unity, and gave a master lesson to that small group: Violence has no place in Venezuela!”

(RedRadioVE) by Victoria Torres with Orinoco Tribune content

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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