by Anwar A Khan
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a federal state in the north part of South America. The country has built its economy on oil, as Venezuela owns the largest oil reserves in the world.This is the land of Simon Bolivar, this is the land that took its army and liberated Latin America some hundred years ago. It is land of pride, of patriotism. Simon Bolivar was a revolutionary who played a key role in liberating several Latin American countries - including Venezuela - from the rule of Spain in the early 19th century. He spearheaded a number of successful military campaigns against the Spanish.
The demand on the sovereign, independent government of Venezuela headed by Nicholas Maduro to step down from a foreign power posed to be a world-village headman and his sidekicks is nothing but temerity. It is also irremissible! That the situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is very dire goes without saying. Coercion, whether military or economic, must never be used to seek a change in government in a sovereign state. The use of sanctions by outside powers to overthrow an elected government is in violation of all norms of international law. It is very usurious! Think of the other way round. If any other country tries to meddle into the internal affairs of that state, would it endure such an audacity?
The liege states like Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Canada… of that rapscallion state have issued ultimatum for new elections in Venezulea which tantamounts to what an old proverb says, “All thieves are cousins.” Political experts also have warned, however, that picking sides in Venezuela’s political conflict runs contrary to international law. UN human rights expert IdrissJazairy expressed concern in a statement about the sanctions being imposed by the US on Venezuela’s national oil company in an attempt to oust Maduro. The country’ president Nicholas Maduro has disdained EU ultimatum including its boss Donald Trump and his lieutenants’ so-called postulation.
The Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has said that the Bolivarian Government has always been open to dialogue with the Venezuelan opposition and also denounced that the United States government has promoted a coup d’état in the Caribbean nation. “Nobody is going to give us deadlines or tell us if there are elections or not," Arreaza told a special session of the United Nations Security Council. "Europe, putting yourself at the tail of the United States? Not even the United States, but of the Donald Trump government? From where do you get the power to issue deadlines or ultimatums to a sovereign people? From where do you come up with such interventionist and, I would even say, childish action?," he has said.
Like all other independent and sovereign nations, the people of Venezuela are able to freely and securely decide about their future. No one should dare to dictate them.Russia, China and Turkey… have firmly taken the side of Maduro’s government. And that is a welcome move!
Russia's UN ambassador, VassilyNebenzia, has opposed the UN meeting on Venezuela, saying it did not represent a threat to international peace and security. He has accused Washington of attempting "a coup d'etat", a chargeMaduro also has levelled at his opponents. Many people have died in protest-related violence in Caracas. Maduro said he has written to the Pope for help to facilitate and strengthen dialogue to resolve the impasse, with tension having been heightened since Trump has suggested the US military might intervene. Maduro and his government also have said they would resist any such move, as he repeated claims that the US president wanted to turn his country into "a new Vietnam". "Europe and the world need to know that the White House has been taken over by an extremist," he has further said. He also has mentioned, "It is like the KluKluk Klan arrived in the White House and Donald Trump is the head of the KKK. He's surrounded by a group of people they call the Venezuela team."
Maduro has claimed that Mike Pence, the US vice president; John Bolton, national security adviser to Trump; and the secretary of state Mike Pompeo are all part of the "supremacist" group. He has said theydedicate themselves daily to conspire against Venezuela including the option of a military coup. In a warning to Trump over potential military intervention, he has said, "The Venezuelan people, and our armed forces, the Bolivarian National Army - we won't let them take an inch of our national territory.” Russia is one of the few foreign powers to have spoken out in his favour, with the Kremlin having condemned European countries for recognisingGuaido as acting president. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Vladimir Putin, has said, “The move was an attempt to legitimise usurped power and would not result in a peaceful, effective and lasting settlement of the crisis the Venezuelans are going through".
On January 23 last, the Venezuelan opposition generated a series of expectations and tensions on the street. At the moment, the country is calm despite the coup that the United States has promoted from the vanguard, with all its spokesmen dedicated to this task. The coup d’etat is being defeated gradually.
The breakdown of diplomatic relations with the United States is contemplated in the Vienna Convention, it is expected that in the coming times US diplomats and consular officials leave the Venezuela. In any case, if a different scenario is presented, Venezuela will demand that they leave, but do not expect hostility from Venezuela.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister has said that the good offices of the brother countries of the region in mediating through the dialogue in Venezuela will be welcome. “We will be willing to activate and preserve it to be more effective than the one of the Dominican Republic”, he has said.
Likewise, the Foreign Minister also pointed out that a few days ago Juan Guaidó himself met with the president of the National Constituent Assembly, Diosdado Cabello. In December 2018 and in all these months there were proposals on both sides to reach political agreements, but then the opposition consulted with Trump’s spokesmen and ended up rejecting”, he added. The Venezuelan diplomat lamented that “right-wing presidents in Latin America, including Macri, receive orders from Washington”, this in relation to the recent pronouncements of those countries that recognise the unconstitutional act of self-proclamation of Guaidó.
But Venezuela is a country of dialogue and peace. It is calm and at peace, unlike what some media are trying to show. There is a coup d’etat that is led by the US government and in particular by the US administration headed by Donald Trump, but the National Government will face the coup attempts. One may consider as humorous the self-proclamation of the deputy to the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, and this disdainful act stresses that it lacks legality.
Some countries have supported the US interventionist position in Venezuela due to pressure from Washington and Venezuela’s response to those states will be proportional, although Venezuela’s confrontation is mainly with the United States, the main sponsor of the coup. Maduro government is willing to dialogue without any conditions and within the framework of the Venezuelan Constitution, it is denouncing that the opposition supported by the United States does not want to talk. The government of President NicolásMaduro has repeatedly called the opposition to a dialogue. In that sense, he said that “we have opened the doors to meet wherever they want” because a dialogue will be the most logical and important political pulse to solve the crisis in the country.
Similarly, both the President and FM have denied that there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, to denounce that the Venezuelan economy has been disrupted because of the sanctions and the US blockade. They have also asserted that the alleged humanitarian aid is an absurdity and a theater show on the part of the United States and the enemies of Venezuela. In that sense, they have recalled that in 1960 Washington announced that there was a humanitarian crisis in the Dominican Republic and took advantage of the situation to deploy 8,000 US soldiers and overthrow the democratically elected president, Juan Bosch.
President NicolásMaduro has taken seriously the US threat to have all the options on the table, indicating that the National Government has prepared for any scenario. The Bolivarian National Armed Forces are preparing anti-imperialist military in the face of this threat. The Venezuelan Foreign Minister has pointed out that the government presided over by NicolásMaduro has as main task to defend the people of Venezuela, as well as the integrity and independence of the country and will not let foreign actors dictate orders to the people.
In the same way, he has expressed the confidence of the Venezuelan Executive in the people and in the FANB of Venezuela. He has asserted that Venezuela will succeed and will not let the interventionist attempts and the coup d’état to triumph. He also has considered Trump as the symbol of the capitalist system and said that Venezuela’s resistance and its victory over imperialism will encourage other countries to confront Donald Trump and not let their governments to be subjugated by the US. The Venezuelan diplomat has considered the support of the allies of great importance and mentioned that in the Security Council of the United Nations, countries such as Russia, China, among others, supported the National Government against the United States and its allies.
He has recalled that the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chávez, established relations of brotherhood with several countries, including Iran and Russia, and assured that Venezuela values these strategic relations.
Delivering a speech at the UN General Assembly earlier, Jorge Arreaza said Trump had used the UN platform to declare war. "As if he were the world’s emperor President Donald Trump used this rostrum built for peace to announce war, the total destruction of member states, the application of coercive unilateral and illegal measures," Arreaza said. "Today we must report to the world that our people have been directly threatened by the President of the United States."
This quadruplet of terror of Whitehouse stretching from Washington, D.C. to Caracas and many other parts of the world is the cause of immense human suffering, the impetus of enormous regional instability, and the genesis of a sordid cradle of self-willed intervention in the internal affairs of other independent and sovereign countries. So, the greater international community should excoriate in the most abrasive language against the uncalled for and unwarranted meddlesome actions of Washington establishment into Venezuelan internal affairsand the internal affairs other nations of the world to defend the rule of law, liberty, and basic human decency in the world.
-The End –
The writer is a senior citizen of Bangladesh, writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs.
Post a Comment