Search for Vietnamese sailors called off

The Japanese government has officially stopped searching for six missing Vietnamese sailors after a three-day helicopter search.

Six of seven Vietnamese sailors working aboard a Taiwanese ship went missing after jumping off the ship on Sunday. When they went overboard, the ship was 18km off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan.

The Department of Overseas Labour Management contacted the other sole Vietnamese sailor left working aboard the ship. He said that the working and living conditions on the ship were good and refused to jump off when his shipmates attempted to persuade him.

350 workers suffer food poisoning

350 workers from the DHA Garment Export Company arrived at the Luong Tai and Gia Binh hospital complaining of stomachahes and dizziness after Tuesday night's dinner. Of the 260 workers hospitalized for food poisoning, one-third have now been released, reported the Bac Ninh's Food Safety and Hygiene Department.

The DHA company canteen, which serves 1,581 lunches and 200 dinners to employees, serves a menu that regularly includes pork, boiled tofu and fried eggs.

The Food Safety and Hygiene Department has submitted the food samples for testing in order to determine the cause of the poisoning.

Ha Noi police arrest woman for transporting heroin

The Ha Noi police have arrested a 43-year-old woman for illegally transporting three cakes of heroin, weighing about 1kg, from the northern Phu Tho Province to Ha Noi.

The woman, named Chau Tuyet Hanh was caught when she was riding her motorbike through Ha Noi's Ba Vi District, with the heroin hidden in the vehicle's trunk.

Hanh admitted to the police that a local man in Phu Tho Province paid her VND10 million ($470) to transport the heroin.

The case is under investigation.

Authorities work with China to tackle illegal drug trade

Viet Nam and China are expected to reach a new agreement on their common fight against illegal drugs at their fourth bilateral meeting on drug control which began here yesterday.

According to the Standing Office for Drug Control (SODC) under the Ministry of Public Security, since their last meeting in China's Hubei province last November, Viet Nam and China have worked together to devise a joint action plan to tackle drug crimes along their shared border.

The police forces of seven Vietnamese border localities and the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi organised a number of meetings to exchange information on organised crime.

Meanwhile, police departments in Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Lai Chau and Dien Bien provinces agreed on a co-operation mechanism with Yunnan, according to the office.

Since 2013, the Yunnan police force has handed over four wanted drug traffickers while Lang Son province helped capture a fugitive drug criminal from China.

At the same time, the Customs of Viet Nam uncovered 15 drug smuggling cases based on information from its Chinese counterpart and seized more than 21.2kg of heroin.

At the meeting, Hoang Anh Tuyen, SODC deputy head, acknowledged that concerned agencies of both countries have yet to eliminate the flourishing transnational illegal drug trade along their borders. In spite of authorities' efforts, drugs and drug traffickers still enter into Viet Nam from China.

Tuyen highlighted the need for both countries to intensify their exchange of information and provide mutual support during criminal investigations.

Liu Yuejin, permanent deputy secretary-general of China's National Narcotics Control Commission, said a majority of methamphetamine and heroin transported across the Viet Nam-China border originated from the Golden Triangle and had a negative impact on both countries.

Liu shared the Chinese police force's experience in running drug raids while expressing hopes of a stronger partnership with Viet Nam in this field in the future.

New road to link the south with Central Highlands

A highway will connect the Mekong Delta province of Dong Nai to the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong if the Ministry of Transport approves a recent proposal.

The 200km highway, which would cost an estimated US$1.52 billion, would stretch from Thong Nhat Commune, Dong Nai to the Lien Khuong–Prenn highway in Lam Dong.

"The project will expand the existing highway network between HCM City, Bien Hoa, Dong Nai and Vung Tau to the Central Highlands. The highway will play an important role in connecting southern provinces," said Nguyen Xuan Lam, vice director general of the PMU-I.

First, a two-lane highway from Dau Giay to Bao Loc, Lam Dong would be built, with priority given to important junctions. Then two more lanes would be added to address increased traffic and the route between Bao Loc and Lien Khuong would be completed.

PMU-I recommended the Build – Operate – Transfer (BOT) model be used during the first phase in order to encourage investors from the private sector to help finance the project. The payback period for the BOT model is an estimated 17-21 years.

If approved, the project will start next year and be complete in 2018.

Ebola scare growing

The Ministry of Health on October 14 said its emergency operations center (EOC) had convened an emergency meeting with relevant local and global agencies and organizations to discuss a contingency plan for preventing the deadly Ebola virus from spreading to Vietnam.

EOC held the meeting on Monday in the wake of the growing Ebola scare in the world. The event was attended by experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

According to CDC, there has been no clear scientific evidence that the Ebola virus can be transmitted through the air from humans to humans or from humans to animals. It is possible that a medical staff in the U.S. who contracted the virus had been negligent or had not strictly followed the safety procedure when taking care of an Ebola patient. Relevant agencies are still striving to identify the cause.

Medical experts were of the opinion that Ebola might spread to Vietnam through Vietnamese or foreigners who arrive from the Ebola-hit places.

At the moment, officials from the health ministry are checking the functions of Ebola testing and treatment facilities and working out steps for medical staff to detect and treat suspected cases.

Participants at the meeting came up with some conclusions that all processes and guidelines related to Ebola prevention need to be reviewed and be updated in accordance with the requirements of WHO and CDC.

Strict supervision and temperature scanning should be maintained at border gates, especially for the passengers flying from six Ebola-hit countries, namely Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal. However, those coming from the U.S. and Spain are not required to fill in health declaration forms.

The health ministry requested relevant agencies to step up training for their medical staff, closely follow safety measures at hospitals and clinics, check testing facilities, and improve testing processes for detecting the Ebola virus in the country.

With the support of WHO and Japan, experts said Vietnam can conduct Ebola tests.

WHO said in the past three weeks, the Ebola virus has spread rapidly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and infection cases have been found in the U.S. and Spain. As of October 13, over 8,470 people had contracted the virus and 4,076 of them had died.

Flood control fund almost used up

The fund for flood control in HCMC is running out with only VND240 billion left for the anti-flooding 2011-2014 program while the rest of this year will see multiple floodwater surges, the city’s People’s Council heard on October 13.

A total budget of VND2.07 trillion was earmarked for anti-flooding projects in the 2011-2014 period, and up to VND1.83 trillion has been disbursed, said Nguyen Van Lam, deputy head of the Council’s Economy and Budget Commission.

As such, only some VND240 billion is left, which is trivial compared to the need to fight worsening flooding.

Lam questioned the cost-effectiveness of such flood-control projects after a huge amount has been spent while flooding shows no sign of ebbing in the city.

“Does the effectiveness (of flood control projects) really match the disbursed fund?” he posed the question to relevant agencies of the municipal government at the meeting convened by the Council’s Economy and Budget Commission.

Nguyen Hoang Anh Dung, deputy director of the city’s Flood Control Center, told the meeting that most of the flood-control projects have stalled due to site clearance problems. The center targeted to tackle flooding at six out of 11 flood-prone sites in the city this year, but only one project has been completed.

As targeted, flooding would be addressed at the areas along Provincial Road 43, National Highway 1A, Do Xuan Hop Street in District 9, Quang Trung Street in Go Vap District, Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, and Nguyen Van Qua Street in District 12.

However, only the project at Provincial Road 43 has been completed, while all other projects have either been stalled or moved slowly due to problems related to red tape, site clearance, or removal of water pipelines and telecom cable systems, Dung said.

With the foot-dragging progress of such projects – which themselves represent just a small part of the overall flooding reality in the city – floods will remain a huge headache in the city since there will be six or seven more times of flood tide in the rest of this year.

Field trips conducted by Council members show the flood control project on Quang Trung Street remains on paper, while the project in District 9 has come to a standstill after the groundbreaking ceremony, Lam of the Council said.

Le Thanh Liem, director of the management unit for urban upgrade projects in HCMC, called Council members’ attention to the outdated foundation height in the city, currently required at two meters above sea level.

Small alleys in the city are upgraded with reference to this height limit, but “given the recent flood tide of 1.7 meters, then this foundation height in the next three to five years will succumb to flooding,” he said.

To make matters worse, the city’s land surface is sinking, at an average of nearly two millimeters a month at many areas being measured, Liem said.

Observatory devices show that between last November and this August, five out of ten sites being measured sank by 14.5mm to 127mm.

“The city’s land surface is sinking quickly due to many building projects being developed on weak soil foundations,” Liem said, hinting that the flooding situation is going from bad to worse.

Last Friday, tidal rise coupled with heavy rains submerged large swathes of the city, with at least 50 sites between 0.4 and 1.0 meter deep under the water.

ANZ continues support for homebuyers

ANZ Vietnam Bank on October 13 announced a mortgage promotion program for customers with an annual interest rate of 8.4% for two-year re-pricing tenor loans.

The bank said in a statement on October 13 that eligible customers can choose a package that suits their needs. Besides, it can be a discount of up to 4% per annum off the standard interest rate for the first six months of the loans with re-pricing tenors of less than six months.

For longer re-pricing tenors, customers can enjoy a competitive fixed interest rate of 8% per annum or 8.4% per annum for one year or two years re-pricing tenor respectively. These offers apply to all customers during the promotion period.

The program runs till January 10, 2015.

In addition, the first 60 disbursed loans with a minimum draw-down of VND500 million before February 1 next year can enjoy more benefits.

Duong Duc Hung, head of ANZ’s Retail Banking in Vietnam, said ANZ understands the seasonal aspect of Vietnam’s property market.

“We also understand timing is a significant factor for any major purchase, particularly a home. We hope this promotion will benefit more customers by offering them flexibility and choice when financing their home in the upcoming property season,” he said.

Earlier, the bank has enhanced the flexibility of its mortgage policy, making it easier for customers to buy property from Phu My Hung Development Corporation.

ANZ entered the country in 1993 and now has nine transaction outlets in the country’s two biggest cities – Hanoi and HCMC, and representative offices in Binh Duong and Can Tho.

Vietnamese heroic mothers honoured

Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan bestowed the State title “Vietnamese Heroic Mother” on 583 women who lost their husbands and children during the war in the northern province of Hung Yen on October 15.

Among the awardees, only 86 are still alive.

Addressing the award ceremony, Doan expressed her deep gratitude to the mothers for their sacrifice to the struggle for national independence.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Doan The Cuong said local authorities will do their utmost to help the mothers fully benefit from the social welfare policies.

The province has so far had 1,480 mothers awarded with the title.

The same day, the Mekong Delta province of Long An granted the title to 125 mothers in Tan Tru and Chau Thanh districts.

From late 1994 to 2001, 2,040 local women were recognised as heroic mothers, many posthumously.

Modern rural area building efforts under review

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has asked for joint efforts to tackle environmental pollution in rural areas since it became an emerging issue in the new-style rural area building process.

The Deputy PM, who heads the Central Steering Committee for the Target Programme on new-style rural area building, chaired a meeting reviewing the programme operation over the past nine months in Hanoi on October 14.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam, many localities recommended adjusting some criteria set for the new-style rural area building, like clarifying income calculation.

Other communities suggested tapering off standards issued for local markets or the issue of designing houses in accordance to geographical conditions in the Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands, Nam, who is Deputy Head of the Central Steering Committee, added.

The Deputy PM agreed that the criteria can be revised to fit each locality’s conditions but the adaptability must still maintain culture and landscapes of the locality.

Ninh assigned related agencies to re-examine the set criteria based on these suggestions towards having both “fixed” and “flexible” standards.

He also agreed to establish coordinating offices in at provincial and district levels and position full-time coordinators in communes.

By early September 2014, 512 communes across the country were recognised as new style rural areas, 327 more than the figure reported at a conference reviewing the three-year implementation of the programme in May.

UN pushes for gender equity in agriculture development

The United Nations agencies in Vietnam proposed increasing women’s access to education and training, which also needs to be incorporated into policies on agricultural and rural development, and gender equality.

The gender gap remains wide, with 63.4 percent of women in rural areas working in agriculture, compared to 57.5 percent of men.

Rural women play a key role in food production and non-agricultural activities, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in Vietnam said in their report issued on the occasion of International Day of Rural Women (October 15).

They suggested authorities support women in accessing production services and resources, including knowledge, advice and professional skills.

The banking sector should also provide financial assistance to them along the way, UN Women and the FAO said.

A collision between a motorcycle, driven by a foreigner, and a taxi occurred in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday afternoon. The bike driver, whose name has not been released, was injured.

The incident took place at the Hang Xanh crossroads in Binh Thanh District at 2:30 pm yesterday when a high-capacity Ducati Monster 800, with registered number plate 59 – 506 NN-905, collided with a taxi with number plate 51A – 731.41.

The foreigner travelled to the intersection from Dien Bien Phu Street while the taxi came from Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street.

Based on the number plate, the foreigner may be a French national, witnesses said.

The collision threw the foreigner, who may be around 30 years old, to the ground and seriously injured him, witnesses said.

The taxi driver then took the man to the Nhan Dan Gia Dinh Hospital in Binh Thanh District for emergency treatment.

The motorbike was heavily damaged, while the front of the taxi was dented and its headlights were broken.

After the incident was reported, local police and their counterparts from the HCMC railway and road police department arrived to examine the scene.

Both the bike and the taxi were brought to the nearest police station for investigation.

Police are working to identify the foreigner and determine the cause of the accident.

Work begins on 2nd phase of project to upgrade downtown Saigon street

The phase covers an area that is 670 meters long and 60.6 meters wide, bounded by Le Loi and Ton Duc Thang Streets, the city Department of Transport said.

According to its design, the street’s existing roadway will be expanded to 27 meters in width and transformed into a square for walkers.

Vehicles will travel on two sides of the square, with a total width of 21 meters. Meanwhile, the two sidewalks will be 12.6 meters wide in total.

In the square area, there will be two water fountains, one of which will be located at the intersection of Nguyen Hue and Mac Thi Buoi Streets and the other at the Nguyen Hue-Le Loi crossroads.

The phase is projected to cost about VND398 billion (US$18.75 million) and to be completed by April 15, 2015.

Due to the construction work, the local transport department has banned vehicles on several streets in the vicinity of the site, including Nguyen Thiep, Mac Thi Buoi, Ton That Thiep, Huynh Thuc Khang, Ngo Duc Ke, Ho Tung Mau, and Hai Trieu.

However, vehicles of local residents and those that carry food and other goods to restaurants and hotels on Nguyen Hue Street are allowed to enter the restricted area.

Vehicles owned by businesses located on the street are also permitted to travel into and out of the banned area to transport goods.

Employees of businesses on Nguyen Hue can ride their motorbikes on the existing sidewalks, which are outside the fence of the prohibited section.

Construction work started on September 11 on the first phase of the project and is expected to finish by March next year.

A section that is 124 meters long and 63 meters wide of Nguyen Hue Street (spanning Le Thanh Ton and Le Loi Streets) and one part that is 220 meters long and 14 meters wide of Le Thanh Ton Street (crossing Pasteur and Dong Khoi Streets) are being upgraded under this first phase.

Ministry of Health calls urgent meeting on Ebola

The Ministry of Health (MoH) on October 14 convened an urgent meeting in Hanoi to address what it considers to be the deadliest Ebola outbreak of record.

The MoH said it is gravely concerned about cross-border transmission of the highly contagious virus into the country and dramatic steps are needed to strictly monitor people at border gates. At the meeting, experts from the World Health Organization, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) agreed the MoH should closely supervise procedures to prevent an Ebola outbreak.

They also agreed to implement entry restrictions to curtail the spread by requiring medical declarations for passengers from the areas hardest hit by the disease including the Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal.

WTO representatives said they along with Japan will provide the MoH support to conduct Ebola tests of people entering the country.

Experts said the Ebola epidemic is continuing to spread rapidly, especially in the three nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone with more than 8,300 infected cases and over 4,000 deaths having been reported.

Russia pledges to expand human resources training

Rector A.V. Torkunov on October 14 vowed to augment human resource training for Vietnamese diplomats at a ceremony held in Moscow marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).

At the event, on behalf of Vietnam Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong,Rector Torkunov conferred the Friendship Order on the MGIMO and five friendship medals on lecturers at the institute for their active contributions to training foreign relation officers for Vietnam over the past 40 years.

For his part, Minister Cuong thanked the MGIMO for its support and congratulated the five lecturers, saying “Their efforts have contributed greatly to the development of cooperative relations and bolstering the traditional friendship between the two nations.”

Minister Cuong asked the MGIMO to continue expanding cooperation with Vietnam in training, scientific research, notably international law, diplomacy and media.

The MGIMO Rector said his organization will send its lecturers to Vietnam in the time ahead at the invitation of Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice.

Earlier, Minister Cuong had been honoured for his extensive contributions to developing political, economic, and culture cooperation between Russia and Vietnam.

The nation enhances women empowerment

Vietnam pledges the best efforts in closer international cooperation to create equal opportunities for women to engage in political, social, and economic activities.

Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN made the remark at the general debate on “Advancement of Women” of the 69th Session of the General Assembly in New York from October 13-15.

She reiterated Vietnam’s commitment to working hand in hand with the international community to effectively carry out the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on Women and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) for a better life of all women around the globe.

The diplomat said the promotion of gender equality, women’s rights and increased women empowerment is an important factor behind Vietnam’s development, noting that Vietnam has promulgated the Law on Gender Equality and the Law against Domestic Violence to better ensure women’s rights.

The ambassador also introduced the country’s policies, laws and programs and tremendous achievements in gender equality, empowerment of women, anti domestic violence while highlighting Vietnam’s efforts in fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in this regard.

Education UK Day 2014 opens in Danang

Education UK Day 2014 was held by the British Council on October 14 in the central city of Danang, offering the chance for parents and students to learn about study in the United Kingdom.

Training programmes in Vietnam to get UK certificates and 99 scholarships for various levels were introduced at the event.

The alumni shared with future UK-bound students their valuable experiences in building a successful career, starting with the right choice of what to study from undergraduate levels.

A number of seminars were held to introduce to participants a world of study options in the UK, the process to apply for a student’s visa, and tips to achieve a high score on the IELTS.

Quang Nam marks patriot Nguyen Van Troi’s death

A ceremony for the 50th anniversary of the death day of the young Vietnamese patriot, Nguyen Van Troi, was organised in Dien Ban district in the central province of Quang Nam on October 4, with the participation of representatives from the Venezuelan Embassy in Vietnam.

On October 9, 1964, Caracas guerillas kidnapped US lieutenant colonel Michael Smolen and demanded the release of Nguyen Van Troi, who was sentenced to death by the US and Saigon puppet government for laying mines on the Cong Ly Bridge in an assassination attempt on US Defence Secretary Robert McNamara.

However, three days after the Caracas guerillas released the hostage on October 12, the US and Saigon governments executed Troi in an attempt to suppress the emerging anti-US movements in Vietnam and abroad.

Venezuela’s efforts to rescue the Vietnamese patriot formed an important part of the Venezuelan people’s guerilla movements of the 1960s and marked a milestone in the country’s relationship with Vietnam.

Nguyen Van Troi set an example of patriotism for Venezuelan people, especially the younger generation, Ivan Emilio Turmero Crespo, the second Secretary of the Venezuelan Embassy in Vietnam, said.

In the future, the Nguyen Van Troi secondary school in Quang Nam will be upgraded to a high school with support from the Embassy as a symbol of the friendship between the two nations.

On the occasion, a design competition was launched for a statue of the martyr Nguyen Van Troi, which will be placed in a park in Dien Ban district.

Canon scholarship nurtures young talents

Canon Vietnam Co., Ltd in conjunction with the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee on October 14 presented scholarships worth over 400 million VND (18,800 USD) to 20 disadvantaged students and pupils with outstanding academic performance.

The beneficiaries came from northern Vinh Phuc, central Thua Thien-Hue and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces. Among them, 10 university students received 24 million VND (1,140 USD) each, while 10 school pupils got 16.2 million VND (770 USD) each.

Those who succeed in maintaining their study results will continue receiving Canon scholarships in following years till they graduate.

The freshly launched Canon scholarship programme aims to encourage young talents to overcome their difficulties in their life to study better.

In the 2014-20 period, it plans to award 240 scholarships totalling nearly 5 billion VND (238,000 USD), including 90 for pupils and 150 for students.

Vietnam continues Ebola response preparations

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health continues warning its agencies and departments to be on full alert for the possible entry of the deadly virus Ebola, particularly at border gates, Director of the Ministry’s Preventive Medicine Department Tran Dac Phu said on October 14.

He said it was a top priority to strictly supervise people entering Vietnam from Ebola-affected areas, especially medical staff, adding that the ministry would run more communication campaigns, equip laboratories with all the necessary facilities, and command localities to prepare for the disease.

This comes at a time when Ebola’s developments in Western Africa are becoming more and more complicated. Phu said the World Health Organisation (WHO) reckons it could take six to nine months to contain the epidemic.

An urgent meeting was held on October 13 with international experts, who said the virus was still raging across the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, resulting in 8,376 patients and 4,024 deaths so far. Meanwhile, Spain and the US have recorded two Ebola patients, the first cases outside of the virus-affected region.

Representatives from the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explained that there is no scientific evidence for the transmission of Ebola through the air. They warned that Ebola could enter the country via passengers travelling to Vietnam from the affected region.

At the meeting, CDC and WHO experts spoke highly of the Southeast Asian country’s timely and comprehensive preparations in anticipation of the disease.

Participants agreed on the need to regularly give updates on all the Ebola-related information published by the WHO and CDC.

Vietnam was asked to continue to keep a close look on its ports of entry and the communities where expats from Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal live.

The country was told to intensify training and personal protective measures at medical establishments and expand communication efforts.

Experts said with the assistance of the WHO and Japan the country was now capable of testing for Ebola.

Ebola is a severe acute viral illness often characterised by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat. These syptoms are followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, skin rashes, impaired kidney and liver functions, and in some cases, internal and external bleeding.

The virus is transmitted via close contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids such as sweat, blood and tissue.

No cases of Ebola infections have been reported in Vietnam so far.

Hanoi tightens supervision over visitors from Ebola outbreak areas

The Hanoi Department of Health has pushed for closer coordination among authorised healthcare agencies in the city to prevent the deathly Ebola virus from entering Vietnam via Noi Bai International Airport.

A working team from the department was also sent to the airport on October 15 to inspect the monitoring efforts on the ground.

The department asked the Centre for International Health and Quarantine of Hanoi to tighten its supervision over visitors arriving at the airport, especially those from Ebola-affected areas.

Meanwhile, all healthcare centres were asked to get ready to provide treatment to Ebola-suspected patients, while preparing measures to prevent the transmission of the disease to healthcare staff.

Since August 14, the Centre for International Health and Quarantine of Hanoi monitored 420,000 passengers arriving at the airport on 2,755 international flights, including 20 from Ebola-affected areas who continue to be held in medical quarantine at home for at least 21 days.

So far, no cases of Ebola infections have been reported in Vietnam.

The Ebola virus is spread via contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, such as sweat and blood.

The current outbreak has so far claimed the lives of 3,439 people out of 7,478 cases reported across the West African countries Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal, according to the latest World Health Organisation figures.

Venezuela marks effort to save Nguyen Van Troi

The Venezuelan embassy in Ha Noi held a ceremony yesterday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the martyrdom of American War hero Nguyen Van Troi, who is very familiar to the people of Venezuela.

The ceremony also marked the 50th anniversary of a campaign launched by Venezuelan guerillas to save Troi.

On October 9, 1964, Caracas guerillas abducted US lieutenant colonel Michael Smolen and held him in exchange for Troi, who had been sentenced to death by the US and the Sai Gon puppet Government for laying mines on the Cong Ly Bridge to kill US Defence Secretary Robert McNamara.

However, three days after Caracas guerillas released the US hostage (October 12), the US and the Sai Gon government executed Troi by a firing squad in order to suppress the emerging anti-US movement in Viet Nam and around the globe.

The Nguyen Van Troi campaign was an important event in the Venezuelan people's armed fight against imperial intervention in the 60s and also a milestone in the country's relationship with Viet Nam.

Addressing the ceremony, Charge d'affaires of the Venezuelan Embassy, Katiuska Maestre, hailed Troi's sacrifice as a shining example of the patriotic tradition of Vietnamese people.

The event is one of many that helped deepen ties between the people of both countries, she said.

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