Officials and ships of the Bolivarian Navy were deployed in the state of La Guaira as part of an air-naval demonstration; intended to commemorate the 242nd birthday of the Liberator Simón Bolívar, the 202nd anniversary of the Battle of Lake Maracaibo, in addition to the National Day of the Bolivarian Navy.
At the event, the Vice President of Defense and Sovereignty, Vladimir Padrino López, expressed his admiration for the Navy's work in defending the Venezuelan sea and denounced the incursion of a ship into Venezuelan waters in an alleged oceanographic exploration.
"We are stubborn in defending our Atlantic coast," he said, warning that Venezuela "isn't messing around," he stated when denouncing the ship's unauthorized entry a few miles from the Amacuro Delta. "The sea is not yet delimited; it's our sea! It's our way out, right there in front of the Delta, without asking permission, and they claim they were in Guyanese waters."
In his opinion, the action is no coincidence; "We are not fooling around in defending our sovereignty, and we will take all necessary actions under the leadership of our Commander-in-Chief (President Nicolás Maduro) to defend our sovereignty in any geographical area, whether at sea or on the mainland," he said.
Padrino López recalled that naval and air-sea patrols have been reinforced and instructed the mobilization of units of the Bolivarian National Navy to permanently monitor the country's continental shelf and waterways.
He also emphasized the importance of civic-military unity and urged state institutions and the civilian population to remain vigilant, "working hand in hand with our naval force to ensure that no external actor violates our territorial integrity."
Proud of the Navy
During the ceremony, Padrino López also expressed his pride in all the servants, soldiers, officers, and admirals of the Bolivarian Navy. "I am proud of all its members, of everything they do to defend this immense sea, and they do it with perfection, with ethics, with professionalism." The Minister of Defense then awarded decorations to participants in Operation Domingo Sifontes.
Among the naval vehicles deployed for the event were the Simón Bolívar training ship and an interceptor boat from the Coast Guard Command, crewed by the director of the Bolivarian Navy Military Academy, Rear Admiral Pedro Elías González.
Additionally, Mi-17 helicopters, coast guard patrol vessels, a multipurpose transport ship crewed by members of the Bolivarian Navy Corps of Engineers, water transport vessels, tugboats, coastal surveillance vessels, amphibious armored vehicles, as well as F-16, K-8 Karakorum, Cessna 208, C-212 Aviocar, and Su-30 MK2 aircraft were deployed.
"Thanks to the support of our leader of victories, Commander-in-Chief of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, [Nicolás Maduro], we have managed to achieve high levels of operational readiness, increased well-being of our troops and efficient levels of training. We do not rest in the mission of innovating, creating, producing and improving our maintenance processes through reverse engineering, tropicalization of spare parts and manufacturing of parts and pieces," explained the Commander of the Bolivarian Navy, Admiral Ashraf Suleimán Gutiérrez.
Likewise, the Chief of the Armed Forces, Vladimir Padrino López, "ALERT" in the "UNION CIVIC MILITAR", 'these harpy satraps' with their constant cunning of indistinct plans to achieve their objectives imposed by the empire and its allies. They are not naive, nor ignorant of our territorial limits. EYE TO THE VIEWFINDER!! WE HAVE THE GENES OF OUR LIBERATORS, NOW MORE THAN EVER, IN THESE 27 YEARS OF FERRA STRUGGLE IN REVOLUTIONARY REBELLION!!
LONG LIVE OUR UNIQUE STATE SECURITY FORCES. FIRM AND ONWARD IN VICTORY!!