As food supplies on Lady Nayera and the Sea Wolf dwindle, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is hoping to utilize Guyana’s embassy in Caracas to fund supplies for the 12 fishermen still detained in Venezuela.
“They on a serious lockdown. The guy who was interpreting for them and so can’t go round no more and they got about three days of food left. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs say they working on a way to get them food and we trying too but it hard. You know they ain’t got no Western Union and because of COVID-19 nobody can’t travel into Venezuela so I’m not sure how we can help them,” Kumar Lallbachan, the owner of Lady Nayera told Stabroek News yesterday.
Lallbachan said that the men are in constant contact with their families in Guyana and so far have reported no issues other than isolation and depleting rations.
Aboard the Lady Nayera are the captain, Richard Ramnarine and his crew: Ramlakan Kamal, Nick Raghubar, Javin Boston, Michael Domingo and Joel Joseph.
On the Sea Wolf are its captain, Toney Garraway and crewmen, Errol Gardiner, Orland Roberts, Christopher Shaw, Shervin O’ Neil and Randy Henry.
Twelve days ago the two vessels were intercepted by the Venezuelan Navy in Guyanese waters. The vessels and 12 crew members have remained in the custody of that state despite numerous calls for their release.
In an address to the Nation on Saturday, Presi-dent Irfaan Ali said that bilateral relations with Venezuela will be on hold until such time as it desists from aggression and immediately releases the fishing vessels and crew members.
“We are committed to bilateral discussions of matters of joint concern such as COVID-19 and Venezuelan migration to Guyana but….these discussions must be preceded by a commitment from Venezuela to desist from aggression and release immediately the vessels and crew,” Ali said during a public briefing on the matter.
The pronouncement is a direct response to an offer made by United Nations Secretary General (SG), Antonio Guterres to play a “good offices” role between Venezuela and Guyana on issues other than the border controversy.
Ali announced during his address that the SG wrote to him on Friday noting that the bilateral relationship between Guyana and Venezuela “is broader than the controversy” and offering his good offices should both the Governments of Guyana and Venezuela wish to avail themselves of his role “to address other important issues”.
Ali stressed that the incursion by Venezuelan armed forces into Guy-ana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the arrest and detention of the crews of Guyanese fishing boats is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of Guyana over its maritime spaces.
He noted that the actions of Venezuela have been so egregious that they drew condemnation from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organization of American States (OAS) which emphasized that the resolution of the issue between Venezuela and Guyana “is a matter that lies under international jurisdiction, and cannot be settled by unilateral actions.”
“We have friends. We are not alone. We have the international community behind us,” the Head of State pronounced while he reminded that the Organization of 33 countries was clear that “any attempt to derail this international legal process, such as the decree issued by the Maduro regime, is contrary to international law and standards, and has no legal bearing or significance”.
A response from Caracas on Sunday accused Ali of undermining the offer of good offices presented by Guterres while clinging to a “fruitless mirage” of unilateral judicial channels and the blatant practice of victimization.
According to Venezuela it will defend its territory and its legitimate rights over the fictitious “Guayana Esequiba” in strict adherence to international law.
