BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NEWS coming out of Guyana states that after almost two weeks in captivity, the Venezuelan authorities have decided to release the 12 Guyanese fishermen and their respective fishing vessels, Sea Wolf and Lady Nayera.
According to Guyana’s leading newspaper, Kaieteur News, Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hugh Todd told the media house last evening (Feb. 2) that the men and their vessels were released earlier in that day.
Todd revealed that the men would depart Port Guira, Venezuela this morning and are expected to arrive in Georgetown on Friday (Feb. 5).
Since the illegal apprehension and detention of the men and their vessels by a Bolivarian Navy patrol vessel (Comandante Hugo Chavez GC 24) in Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on Thursday, January 21, 2021, the aggressive action was denounced by the Guyana Government.
The Government had called for the immediate release of the fishermen and their vessels, which was supported by the international community including CARICOM, the Organisation of American States and Canada.
According to Kaieteur News, the Guyana Government had promised that it would take a path of diplomacy to negotiate immediate release of the abducted fishermen.
However, on Tuesday (Jan. 26) Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza promised to pursue the early release of the crew, but it took him seven days to finally keep his word by releasing the men his country had illegally detained.
The detention of the fishermen and their vessels came after aggressive statements were made by the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and others in his Government regarding the age-old territorial controversy between the two countries.
The matter went brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ruled on December 18, 2020 that it has jurisdiction to resolve the issue.
Guyana had argued that it has sovereign rights over the coast and land territory of the Essequibo, the largest of three counties of the country, because it was awarded to the then British Guiana in the 1899 Arbitral Award.
Following the ICJ’s ruling, President Maduro has been on the offensive.
On Thursday, January 7, 2021 during a meeting of the National Defence Council, Maduro announced that he had established “a new maritime territory” of Venezuela, claiming that the territory called “Territory for the development of the Atlantic Façade” should provide adequate protection and safeguard the jurisdiction of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
