The National Assembly (AN) approved, in its first discussion, the Bill to guarantee freedom of navigation and trade against piracy, blockades and other international illicit acts.
This project was presented at the extraordinary session this Monday, where Deputy Giuseppe Alessandrello explained that the law seeks to protect the country's trade relations and protect Venezuelans from the predatory actions of the United States government in Venezuelan waters.
The law includes penalties of up to 20 years in prison for those who support these acts considered as "piracy," in addition to fines in bolivars equivalent to between 100.000 and 1 million times the highest exchange rate published by the Central Bank of Venezuela," he specified, emphasizing that the law seeks to protect the national economy and prevent the erosion of the population's standard of living.
The law consists of two chapters and 11 articles, and its main objective is "to guarantee the freedoms of navigation and trade of goods protected by international treaties ratified by Venezuela," such as the 1958 Geneva Convention on the High Seas, the 1988 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, and the Charter of the United Nations.
"The people of Venezuela, with composure, decency and dignity, will respond to all aggressions, have no doubt about that," assured the president of the Venezuelan parliament, Jorge Rodríguez.
Rodríguez ordered the project to be sent to a joint commission made up of the Foreign Policy, Sovereignty and Integration; Economy, Finance and National Development; and National Security and Defense committees, in order to conduct a consultation "with urgency" and present the text for its second discussion, scheduled for this Tuesday.
He used the opportunity to reiterate his denunciation of the practices he described as modern piracy and accused the United States of reproducing historical methods of plunder and aggression against Venezuela.
