THE HAGUE - The Dutch government has repeatedly requested the Venezuelan government through diplomatic channels to guarantee the equal rights and facilities of five Curaçao fishermen, who are in prison in Venezuela.
The Dutch government also asks Venezuela to come to a speedy and fair handling of their criminal case. This is what the Dutch Minister of Foreign Relations Stef Blok writes in a letter to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament. In this letter, Blok answers questions from MP Sjoerd Sjoerdsma of the D66 party about the detention of Dutch nationals in Venezuela.
These are five fishermen (four Dutch and one Venezuelan who has a residence permit for Curaçao) who were discovered on two fishing boats in Venezuelan territorial waters in March 2020 and who were arrested by the Venezuelan authorities. Venezuela unilaterally closed its border with the Kingdom of the Netherlands in February 2019.
The fishermen have been brought to mainland Venezuela and locked up there. The Venezuelan authorities' charge against the five men is, as far as is known, illegally entering Venezuelan waters and / or goods smuggling. The men are in custody and the case has not yet been brought before the Venezuelan court.
According to Blok, there is recent information that the case will soon be brought to court in Venezuela.
According to Blok, detention conditions in Venezuela are generally bad, including for these five detainees. "The five people are together in one cell in a prison in a place six hours away from the capital Caracas," said Blok.
When asked what attempts have been made to free these Dutch citizens, the minister says that the Kingdom of the Netherlands cannot directly interfere with foreign legal proceedings.
Blok: “The embassy cannot release citizens from detention abroad. The embassy provides consular assistance to Dutch detainees abroad. One of the components of consular assistance in this case is also contact with the Venezuelan authorities about, among other things, guaranteeing a fair trial and humane detention conditions.”