The ExxonMobile Prosperity FPSO vessel built by SBM Offshore in Singapore. Photo: SBM Offshore Amsterdam B.V./file photo.
The Venezuelan Ministry for Defense issued a statement in which it categorically rejects the accusations of the president of Guyana, Irfan Ali. President Ali falsely claimed the incursion of a Venezuelan patrol boat into the waters of his nation, despit the situation having occurred in waters yet to be delimited.
The statement explained that the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) are carrying out patrol work within the framework of the General Domingo Antonio Sifontes Joint Military Operation, “aimed at safeguarding the integrity of the maritime spaces of the Venezuelan Atlantic coast and its incontestable territory.”
The statement confirms the transit of the vessel “Patrullero Oceánico AB Guaiquerí (PO-11)” in waters that are “pending delimitation,” in reference to the Essequibo, a region of almost 160,000 square kilometers, rich in oil and minerals, which Venezuela has reaffirmed as part of its territory since the creation of the captaincy general of Venezuela.
In this regard, the statement explains that it has been confirmed “through satellite images the presence of 28 foreign drilling vessels and tankers in the undelimited waters, which, with the consent of the Guyanese government and flagrantly violating international law, are carrying out oil and gas exploitation and marketing activities.”
The text adds that there is only one valid legal document in force to resolve the territorial dispute with Guyana, which is the 1966 Geneva Agreement, so Guyana has no legal basis or legitimacy to unilaterally make decisions for a space where it cannot exercise its sovereignty or jurisdiction.
The document expresses the will of the FANB to defend Venezuela’s territory and sovereignty, while also hoping that the government of Guyana and others in the region that have “assumed biased and partial positions” stop promoting hostility and warlike policies.
Below is a full unofficial translation of the statement:
The Bolivarian National Armed Force, in exercise of its constitutional functions of guaranteeing national sovereignty and security in aquatic spaces, categorically rejects the statements made by the President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, referring to the transit carried out by the Oceanic Patrol Vessel AB GUAIQUERÍ (PO-11), in waters pending delimitation, within the framework of the controversy over the Essequibo territory.
It is worth noting that, in the execution of the Joint Military Operation “General Domingo Antonio Sifontes,” aimed at safeguarding the integrity of the maritime spaces of the Venezuelan Atlantic Coast and its incontestable territory, the Bolivarian Navy has been able to verify through satellite images, the presence of 28 foreign drilling vessels and tankers in the disputed area, which, with the consent of the Guyanese government and flagrantly violating international law, are carrying out activities of exploitation and commercialization of hydrocarbons that lie underground.
It is imperative to remember that the dispute in question has a valid legal instrument in force, deposited with the United Nations General Assembly, which governs its practical, political, and [mutuallly] satisfactory solution: the Geneva Agreement. Therefore, Guyana has no legal basis or legitimacy to unilaterally make decisions about a space where it cannot exercise sovereignty or jurisdiction.
We are a country attacked by proxies of North American imperialism such as Exxon Mobili, also linked to fifth columns. For this reason, the FANB rejects the biased and partial positions taken by some regional organizations, which, far from contributing to the solution of the dispute between Venezuela and Guyana, themselves constitute prophets of disaster by promoting hostility and warlike policies. Faced with these incessant attacks, the armed institution, faithful to its anti-imperialist nature, prepares itself in perfect popular military-police fusion, to respond to any threat and preserve the territorial integrity and peace of the Republic.
We are the lineage of Bolívar and Chávez!… ALL of Venezuela should be respected!
Chávez Lives!… The Homeland Continues!
Independence and Socialist Homeland!… We will live and win!
THE SUN OF VENEZUELA RAISES IN ESSEQUIBO!
Independence or Nothing!… Always Loyal… Never Traitors!
Vladimir Padrino Lopez
General in Chief
Caracas, March 1, 2025
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SA
