February 24, 2021
On Wednesday, the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, said that his government would have preferred not to expel Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa, the Ambassador of the European Union in Caracas, but stated that his country could not tolerate any more unilateral aggressions from the EU. In statements transmitted by the government channel, Maduro revealed that the Executive Branch was seeking to re-establish dialogue among the various sectors of the opposition and the followers of the ideas of Hugo Chavez, using a European country as a mediator, but that this process has been suspended. “Important steps had been taken, but not like this, not like this. Either you need to correct this or we will not be able to deal with, or have any dialogue with, the European Union at all,” the head of state maintained.
The Venezuelan president emphasized that the expulsion of the ambassador was merely the response by Caracas to the attacks that Venezuela has been subjected to by the EU. And he added, “We would not have wished to do this; we are doing it against our will, even. We want to have the best relations with all Europe, but we cannot accept anyone coming here to offend Venezuela.”
In similar form, he regretted the “attack of madness” of the EU, in regard to the recent coercive measures applied by the EU to Venezuelan officials, in order to punish them for having participated in the parliamentary elections of December 6 of 2020. “They even applied sanctions to opposition candidates, demonstrating how contemptible they are at the moment of cobbling together their international level decisions,” he added.
Due to this, he insisted that the EU is welcome, “but only if they respect Venezuela, our democracy and our institutions.” If not, he advocated the application of reciprocal measures to their hostilities. “They interfere with a whole country, and what do they expect? That we sit back with our arms crossed and do nothing? That we thank them for assaulting us?” he asked.
Earlier, the EU urged the Maduro government to reverse the expulsion of the European Union in Venezuela and warned that no fail to do so would “isolate” the country more on the international level. The EU assured Venezuela in a communique that they are “fully committed” to the processes of dialogue and negotiation in Venezuela, but they believe that the expulsion measure “directly undermines” their position.
Since 2017, the EU has imposed sanctions against Venezuela, which were renewed for one more year in 2020. Up until now, 55 diplomats and politicians of Venezuela have had coercive measures applied; among these is Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez.
Source: RT, translation Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau