The event was attended by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Venezuela Oscar Figuera, head of its Committee for Foreign Relations Carlorus Wimmer, General Secretary of the Committee for International Solidarity & the Struggle for Peace (COSI) Gabriel Aguirre, and two former guerillas Carlos Rey and Raul Rodriguez.

Speaking at the event, Ambassador Le Viet Duyen expressed his profound gratitude for guerillas of Venezuela’s Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN).

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Vietnamese Embassy in Venezuela holds meeting to honor Venezuelan guerillas who participated in the Nguyen Van Troi campaign in 1964. Photo: courtesy of Vietnamese Embassy in Venezuela

He affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to its friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Venezuela and pledges to further intensify bilateral relations ad collaboration at multilateral forums.

The Nguyen Van Troi campaign was organized by Venezuelan guerillas who abducted U.S. lieutenant colonel Michael Smolen on October 9, 1964 in an effort to leverage the release of young Vietnamese patriot Nguyen Van Troi, who had been sentenced to death by the U.S. and Saigon regime for his assassination attempt on U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara.

However, three days after the Caracas guerillas released the U.S. hostage on October 12, the U.S. and the Saigon administration killed Nguyen Van Troi in order to suppress the emerging anti-U.S. movement in Vietnam and around the globe.

Source: VNA