President Nicolás Maduro led the commemorative acts for Navy Day and the bicentennial of the Naval Battle of the Lake in the Vereda del Lago de Zulia Park. The meeting was not broadcast live on television or social networks, nor was any reference made to the current situation of the Zulian reservoir.
Photo: Presidential Press
“We must be in permanent vigilance, watching over peace, the independence of Venezuela, caring for and defending our people, our seas, airs,” President Nicolás Maduro said this Monday, July 24, before starting the air-naval parade over Lake Maracaibo (Zulia); commemorative act for the bicentennial of the Naval Battle of the Lake and Armanda Day.
The event, held in the Vereda del Lago Park, in the capital of Zulia, was also attended by the Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López; and the vice president, Delcy Rodríguez; among other officials. The governor of Zulia, Manuel Rosales, was also present.
200 years after the victory of the Naval Battle of the Lake, let us swear from the heart to defend the Homeland, the people and consolidate the peace, prosperity and independence of Venezuela. Long live Maracaibo! Long live Bolívar!, sentenced the head of state @NicolasMaduro pic.twitter.com/EvtDiz0E60
– Presidential Press (@PresidencialVen) July 24, 2023
After 5:30 pm the broadcast of the event began – the Twitter account of the Navy announced it for 4:00 pm – through the VTV State channel and the social networks of the Presidential Press and the Venezuelan president’s own. At 7:00 pm everything indicated that the parade was not live: the images continued to show a blue sky and a lake without “scum”–The reservoir has been in the news in recent weeks due to the unprecedented crisis it is suffering due to the oil spills and the appearance of verdigris that would cover 70% of its waters.
*Read also: NGO warned that 70% of Lake Maracaibo is covered by “verdin”
President Nicolás Maduro commemorated the bicentennial of the Battle of the Lake in Maracaibo | Photo: Presidential Press
Monument Naval Battle of the Lake
One of the first actions carried out by Maduro in the event was the inauguration of the Epic Bicentennial Monument Naval Battle of Lake Maracaibo.
The sculpture is made up of “three ships in the southern area that represent the patriot squad and three ships in the north area, which represent the realistic squad. Each one of them has heights of ten, eight and six meters, respectively, “explained earlier the frigate captain and architect Jenny Coromoto Jiménez, infrastructure director of the Army Corps of Engineers, in charge of designing the work.
#PHOTOS ? | This is how the commemorative acts of the bicentennial of the Naval Battle of Lake Maracaibo take place. pic.twitter.com/axSAxyuqI3
– Presidential Press (@PresidencialVen) July 24, 2023
Battle of the Lake
On July 24, the Navy Day is celebrated in Venezuela, in commemoration of the date on which the Naval Battle of Lake Maracaibo was fought in 1823, a naval confrontation between the squadron of the Republic of Colombia, led by Admiral José Prudencio Padilla from New Granada, and the squadron of the Navy of the Kingdom of Spain, led by captain Ángel Laborde y Navarro. The defeat of the Spanish forces at the Lake was followed by the capitulation and surrender of the city of Maracaibo, which had been occupied by the royalists.
The Venezuelan Navy is the component of the National Armed Forces in charge of ensuring naval defense and compliance with the Constitution and laws, cooperating in the maintenance of internal order and actively participating in national development, in order to guarantee the independence, sovereignty and integrity of the Nation’s aquatic spaces.
Prior to the meeting in the capital of Zulia, Maduro congratulated -through his Twitter account, which today distinguished by an X– to members of the Venezuelan Navy. “With deep pride and emotion, I congratulate our Bolivarian Navy, capable men and women, who with honor and courage plow the immensity of the waters of our territory, safeguarding the sovereignty of the Homeland,” he wrote.
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