In order to respect the pain felt by Franklin José Brito Rodríguez's family, to whom we express our deepest condolences for his passing, we waited until his funeral proceedings were complete to reaffirm the Venezuelan Government's position on this terrible issue. In this respect, we would like to state the following:
1. Franklin Brito was never object of a land expropriation or a land recovery measure, nor was his property invaded by any third parties. The facts are the following:
• In 1999, Brito received from the Venezuelan Government ownership titles of 290.20 productive hectares (717 acres) of the
