By Steve Sweeney
Venezuelan leader
Nicolas Maduro ruled out new presidential elections as he called on the
international community to prevent a US-instigated civil war from erupting in
the country.
In a televised
address, the president spoke of the strength of revolutionary heroes Che
Guevara, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez as he reminded Venezuelans of the
country’s past struggles for independence.
Mr Maduro reaffirmed
his commitment to dialogue with opposition forces but warned against the
prospect of a foreign invasion, describing the calls from supporters of self-proclaimed
interim president Juan Guaido as dangerous and having the potential to ignite a
bloody civil war.
“Those who march with
the US flag asking for military intervention in their own country have no idea
what they’re asking for. They have no idea of the damage they will bring,” he
said.
The Bolivarian leader
called on the international community to prevent war as Washington refuses to
rule out an invasion to topple his government.
Fears of armed
conflict were raised when hawkish US National Security Adviser John Bolton was
photograhed holding a notepad with “5,000 troops to Colombia” scrawled across
it and US President Donald Trump admitted that military intervention was “an
option.”
Mr Maduro said: “I
want to ask the world for the highest level of solidarity to create a powerful
movement against the threats of war from the US.”
He has come under
pressure to call new elections despite having won a second term as president
less than a year ago, when he received nearly 68 per cent of the vote in a poll
that international observers deemed fair and transparent.
He refused to bow to
an ultimatum issued by a small group of European countries, insisting: “There
is no dictatorship in Venezuela, nor will there be.”
Mr Maduro warned that
US intervention is nothing to do with democracy but is, in fact, a bid to take
control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves — the largest in the world.
Mr Bolton admitted
that the Trump administration is “in conversation” with US oil companies in
Venezuela about the future privatisation of state-owned PDVSA.
In a televised
interview, he said it would “make a big difference to the US economically” if
its companies could invest in and produce oil in Venezuela.
Guaido spokesman
Carlos Vecchio said yesterday that if his boss’s coup attempt succeeded, the
new government would open up Venezuela’s oil sector to private companies.
“The majority of the
oil production that we want to increase will be with the private sector,” he
confirmed. (IPA Service)
Courtesy:
Morning Star
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