Maduro rejects the "unusual decision of the Brazilian Government to give refugee status to the five confessed terrorists"

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(NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP / Getty Images)

(CNN Spanish) - The government of the questioned President Nicolás Maduro, through a statement, rejected “categorically the decision” of the Brazilian government to “give refugee status” to the 5 Venezuelan soldiers who were held last Friday in Roraima, Brazilian state that borders Venezuela.

“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces to the international community this unusual decision that confirms the pattern of protection and complicity of US satellite governments to attack the peace of Venezuela through mercenaries who have confessed their crimes,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on Sunday afternoon. "The Brazilian government thus becomes an accomplice of armed activities against neighboring countries."

The Government of Brazil announced on Saturday that soldiers began the procedures to remain in the country as refugees. The Government has not indicated whether this will be granted.

Hours later, the questioned president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, said they had the "dilemma" of entering Brazil's territory to capture the soldiers, but that the Venezuelan soldiers finally did not. "Our Army reached the line to that border and saw the terrorist attackers on that side," Maduro said. "We make the right decision with international law."

Venezuela "will insist on claiming the immediate delivery of this group of criminals, while denouncing the position demonstrated so far by the Brazilian authorities in the relevant international instances, including before the United Nations Security Council," the brief of the Chancellery.

According to the Government of Venezuela, "the five defending subjects of the Venezuelan Army" are "materially responsible in the armed assault on the 513 Mariano Montilla Jungle Infantry Battalion located in Luepa, Gran Sabana of the Bolivar state, on December 22, 2019".

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