In a statement, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino stressed that the events of July 5, 1811 lit the sacred fire of American freedom and marked the genesis of a heroic epic waged by the Venezuelan people under the military leadership and politics of Simon Bolivar.

“Those emancipating pens of the illustrious signatories of an urgent declaration, were the beginning of many battles that would have to be waged to achieve the long-awaited independence”, the also sectorial vice president of Sovereignty, Security and Peace stressed.

The general in chief also pointed out that the Bolivarian Revolution led by Hugo Chavez (1945-2013) awakened the consciousness of the Venezuelan people to consolidate the definitive independence.

Padrino stressed that in the face of this historical challenge, the FANB proved to be a faithful guarantor of respect for the Constitution, defender of State institutions and the democratic will of the majority, in perfect civic-military fusion under the precepts of the Bolivarian Doctrine and the concept of comprehensive defense of the nation.

Moreover, the military institution has managed to modernize its weapon systems and increase its level of operational readiness amid the economic blockade imposed by the United States and its allies against Venezuela, the Defense Minister said.

The minister reaffirmed the Bolivarian, anti-oligarchic, anti-imperialist and Chavista vocation of the FANB, as well as its “irreducible commitment to defend social guarantees and the principles of equality, justice, solidarity and peace in our sacred land,” he concluded.

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