The two fishing vessels and 12 crew members detained by the Venezuelan navy two weeks ago have been released and are on their way home.

“We have confirmed that they have been released and will return to Guyana tomorrow (today),” Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hugh Todd told Stabroek News last evening.

Kenneth Garraway, owner of the Sea Wolf confirmed to Stabroek News that the men had been informed that they were free to go.

“I talk to them and they say they coming home,” he shared.

Stabroek News understand that at approximately 7 pm yesterday,  the Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Relations, Jorge Arreaza informed Todd that the men were being released from Venezuelan custody.

The reasoning behind their release was not immediately available but Venezuela has been subject to significant international pressure following the illegal detention of the vessels. It also comes days before the food supplies onboard the vessels were completely depleted.

The men were detained on January 21, 2020 while fishing in Guyanese waters aboard the Lady Nayera and the Sea Wolf.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation the two vessels were intercepted by Venezuelan naval vessel Commandante Hugo Chavez GC 24, while operating off the coast of Waini Point at a position of N 80 49’ 06”/ w 590 37’ 40” W.

These co-ordinates they reminded are “well within Guyana’s territory” and therefore the crew members and vessels are currently illegally detained at Port Guiria, Venezuela.

Venezuela has refuted this claim via a statement from its Ministry of People’s Power for Foreign Relations. According to this statement the naval vessel was operating “in waters of undisputed Venezuelan sovereignty”.

While they failed to reference the specific location, Caracas claimed that the two vessels were “engaged in illegal fishing in flagrante delicto in waters of full sovereignty and jurisdiction of Venezuela, without also having any type of legal documentation.”

“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reiterates that it will not allow illegal incursions of any kind into its territory and that it will exercise, as it has always done, the sacred right to the defence of their sovereignty,” the statement said.

In an address to the Nation on Saturday, President 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 was 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.