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In an interview with EL TIEMPO, Admiral Evelio Ramírez, commander of the National Navy, stated who informed their Venezuelan counterparts about the situation registered with three boats that ended up in the territory of the neighboring country.
The admiral, who traveled to Puerto Carreño in Vichada, to appear in the investigation, acknowledged that the facts, which are the subject of the investigation, have given rise to suspicions, and that for now he does not dare to launch a hypothesis about the fact.
Officially, when is the situation with the three navy vessels known?
The situation occurs last Saturday at dawn, approximately between 3:20 and 3:30 in the morning.
What kind of boats are they?
They are two gunship Boston Whaler boats, designed for river chases, and a third boat, which is a river administration boat where troops are embarked to integrate the concept of a river combat element.
What type of weapons do these vessels have?
These boats have machine guns of different caliber and, of course, the manning armament of the crew, which basically consists of rifles and ammunition.
(You may be interested in reading: Armed version of gunships that ended in Venezuela)
Did the Navy inform its Venezuelan counterparts of the situation?
As soon as the Naval Force of the East realizes that I could not recover the boats because they entered Venezuelan territory, they (Venezuelans) are notified, informed, and in principle they showed a very good disposition.
What is clear is that those boats were not seized.
In charge of what river unit are the boats that ended up in Venezuela?
They belong to the riverine infantry battalion number 51 that has its command post in Puerto Carreño, and is an organic of the number five brigade, a brigade that depends on the Eastern Naval Force.
What operations are carried out in this area?
The operations are aimed at addressing the instability and threats factors of the residual groups, the ELN, contraband control, and irregular migration, among other issues.
There, all illegal activities that may be developing through the use of rivers by different agents are controlled. The responsibility of the National Navy is focused on the control of the waterways.
But occasionally there has never been a situation like this where three boats are released on time and end up in the territory of another country.
Moving to the area, what did you find?
I traveled on Saturday afternoon to put myself in charge of the process, that was the instruction of Mr. President Duque.
From the first moment the novelty is known, the order is given to open the corresponding investigations, as is usually done with each novelty.
These are situations that affect the armament of the personnel, but occasionally there has never been such a situation where three boats are released on time and end up in the territory of another country.
We are in that process of verification and investigation seeking to establish what were the root causes for the three boats to go off the hook, to be released, to untie, however the situation can be determined.
Because operational doctrine establishes a minimum of security, not only in order to preserve the life of our people in an area of operations that is hostile, in an environment where the enemy is and in that sense there are some very special and demanding conditions that must be complied with so that at no time can you react to an attack, harassment or in circumstances where nature can also be affecting the security of the troops.
What is the security process with this type of boat?
When a process or mission ends and personnel go to rest, 100 percent of the crew that embarks on those boats does not leave.
There are some shifts, some guards, some sentries who have to ensure not only the tranquility that the group that is at rest needs, but also the safety of the material that is there.
They also have to be ready to react in the event of an attack. And attentive to any situation, ready to repel an action of the enemy.
Precisely that is what has generated suspicions, how are three boats leaving? …
That’s right, in fact part of the processes there in the area with the development of this type of operations indicate that these boats have to be moored independently, each boat has to have a fixed point on land where it is loved and many times it has than being improvised.
This is often done in a deep area where there is no infrastructure, which meets the minimum conditions to ensure them.
In the investigations we want to determine what happened, if the three were moored at a single point, if they were independently, what happened to the sentries and the crew on board each boat. Always ready to respond, these boats are high level to react with firepower. They are basic principles that are not seen and that is what we have to establish.
How many investigations are open?
I do not want to give the number, because initially the two crew members are being investigated, they are the first ones we received to render releases.
But we also have to look in the chain of command, above, what control measures were given, what specific instructions were given and verify that the procedures have been followed and that could have affected.
What hypothesis do you use?
Excuse me for not answering that question, but that is part of the process we are in and it would be wrong to give some information that has not been concluded with the rigor it requires.
Are they going to request the return of the boats?
That is already a matter that is not within my competence. In the National Navy we are pending investigation and investigation to establish here the causes, motives and circumstances.
ALICIA LILIANA MÉNDEZ
JUSTICE
On twitter: @Justice
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