Maduro in the Face of U.S. Naval Deployment: “Make no Mistake About Venezuela.”

April 2, 2020

President Nicolas Maduro warned yesterday that if the United States dares to attack Venezuela it will be defeated by the people.

During a phone call to the television program Con el mazo dando, the president spoke about the most recent accusations by the White House against high officials of the Bolivarian Government and the proposals to establish in the country “a transitory Council of State” while elections are being held, all in exchange for suspending the blockade.

Referring to these actions, he emphasized, “the Bolivarian fury does not stop, make no mistake about Venezuela, I say it softly (…) The Bolivarian fury is capable of reaching every corner. Donald Trump has been given the madness, as we say here, of coming and going to be defeated in Venezuela and Latin America,” he said.

He recalled that in the midst of the situation that the world and the nation are going through because of the scourge of the coronavirus that caused Covid-19, what is needed is company, support, solidarity, humanitarian aid, not confrontation. We want peace especially in this time of the pandemic. I say to the Venezuelans and to those who listen to us in the world, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has called for an end to the conflicts. To put all of us in a position to cooperate,’ he said.

The head of state also denounced that the crew of the ship Resolute, which docked in Curaçao after attacking the Venezuelan coast guard Naiguatá last Tuesday, refuses to allow access to the authorities of that nation. It means that there is a higher power outside Curaçao that does not allow access to the authorities to see who the 160 people are (inside) and identify them (…) Someone called from the north to forbid it,’ he said.

Maduro went on to say that this action confirms the hypothesis that “that ship was being used to bring mercenaries with speedboats, whle civilians arrived at some of the Venezuelan coasts to carry out attacks on military units or political objectives. Similarly, he ratified his commitment to peace and thanked Curaçao for the information on the pirate ship.

For its part, Russia today rejected the political maneuvers of the United States against Venezuela, including accusations of drug trafficking against its leadership, in the midst of the tragedy in the world of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Washington is trying to take advantage of the situation the world is facing with Covid-19 to strike a definitive blow against Venezuela,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in an online briefing, referring to recent U.S. actions to further blockade Caracas.

In particular, she considered totally illogical the announcements to launch the largest anti-drug operation in 30 years with the announced purpose of punishing offenders, among whom the United States now out of nowhere places the Venezuelan leadership, which openly rejects such accusations.

“It seems that in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the United States has nothing else to devote its time to,” Zajarova said, clearly alluding to the catastrophic epidemiological situation in the northern country, where more than 1,000 people died from Covid-19 only yesterday.”

“The idea of a coup d’état in Venezuela continues to be firm in the minds of many politicians in the United States,” said the spokeswoman, who also lambasted the blocking of International Monetary Fund aid to Venezuela and the harassment of the leaders of that South American nation. Russia joins the calls of prominent figures from the UN, the Human Rights Council and several nations around the world to end political prejudice and promote cooperation among all states in the face of the ravages of the pandemic in the world.

Zajarova stressed that even within Venezuela there are proposals from the opposition itself to join efforts to combat the effects of Covid-19.

The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry recalled the calls made by President Vladimir Putin at the recent G-20 summit by video conference, where he proposed the creation of a green zone for the supply of humanitarian aid and basic necessities.

Putin called for, a moratorium on the application of sanctions in the world during the fight against the pandemic, as this is a strictly humanitarian matter, to save lives, something that must be stripped of any political consideration or prejudice. In this regard, the spokeswoman highlighted Russia’s participation in the efforts at the UN, along with other nations, to make the moratorium a reality.

Source: Cubadebate, translation Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau