Press Release published on September 13, 2025
Yvan Gil
The Foreign Minister of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Yván Gil, denounces before the national and international community the hostile assault by the United States Navy on the tuna boat “Carmen Rosa” on September 12, illegally detaining nine fishermen working in the Exclusive Economic Zone in Venezuelan waters, an act considered a direct provocation and an aggression against the nation.
From the Casa Amarilla, Gil reported that this U.S. military unit called “Jason Dunham,” registration number DDG109, is equipped with significant weapons, missiles, military personnel, and officers with long weapons of war, “who illegally, illegitimately, and hostilely used their means to occupy a harmless Venezuelan vessel.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that the warship deployed 18 troops with heavy weapons who boarded and occupied the small, harmless vessel “for eight hours, preventing communication and the normal activities of the fishermen who were carrying out authorized work.”
“This operation lacks any strategic proportionality and constitutes a direct provocation through the illegal use of excessive military means,” he said. He also stressed that these provocations are intended to cause an incident that would justify “an escalation of war in the Caribbean, with the aim of insisting on their failed policy of regime change, which has been rejected by the U.S. people themselves.”
Gil stated that the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), faithful to its constitutional duty, recorded the incident minute by minute with its air, naval, and surveillance resources, “accompanying the fishermen at all times until their release” in response to the actions that took place in waters under Venezuelan jurisdiction and that occurred in the Venezuelan Exclusive Economic Zone.
Source: Network in Defense of Humanity translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English