Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro mentioned Wednesday that his US counterpart Donald Trump had revealed his true motives towards the South American nation with his claim that that it had stolen US “oil, land and other assets.”
Maduro mentioned Trump’s declare confirmed the US was actually searching for regime change together with possession of Venezuela’s territory and assets. Previously, the US has characterised its build-up of naval forces close to the nation as being aimed toward combating drug-trafficking.
“It is simply a warmongering and colonialist pretense, and we have said so many times, and now everyone sees the truth. The truth has been revealed,” Maduro mentioned throughout a speech in Caracas Wednesday.
“The aim in Venezuela is a regime change to impose a puppet government that wouldn’t last 47 hours, that would hand over the Constitution, sovereignty, and all the wealth, turning Venezuela into a colony. It will simply never happen,” he continued.
On Tuesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the army buildup round Venezuela would get larger till the nation returned to the US “the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us.”
Trump informed reporters on Wednesday that Venezuela had illegally taken away “energy rights” and that the US wished them again. “We’re getting land, oil rights, whatever we had. They took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn’t watching. But they’re not going to do that. We want it back. They took our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there. As you know, they threw our companies out and we want it back.”
Venezuela introduced its oil sector below state management within the Seventies. Prior to that, American corporations had had a a lot bigger presence within the nation’s oil fields.
Trump has repeatedly warned that the US may perform strikes in Venezuela quickly, and mentioned that any nation trafficking medicine into the United States is “subject to attack,” suggesting that neighboring Colombia may very well be one among them.
In his speech on Wednesday, Maduro referred to as on Colombia to unite with Venezuela and defend each nations’ sovereignty.
“I make my call … to the ordinary people of Colombia, to its social movements, to its political forces, to the Colombian military, whom I know very well. I call upon them for a perfect union with Venezuela so that no one dares touch the sovereignty of our countries,” Maduro mentioned.
Maduro additionally condemned Trump’s comments in a telephone name with UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday, Venezuela’s authorities mentioned.
“President Maduro stressed that such statements must be categorically rejected by the United Nations system, as they constitute a direct threat to sovereignty, international law, and peace,” the Venezuelan authorities mentioned in a press release.
Maduro claimed that current US actions towards Venezuela have been a part of a “diplomacy of barbarism” which he mentioned went towards the precept of worldwide coexistence.
Guterres’ workplace later confirmed the telephone dialog had taken place, saying the secretary-general had “reaffirmed the United Nations’ position on the need for member states to respect international law, particularly the United Nations Charter, exert restraint and de-escalate tensions to preserve regional stability.”
Earlier, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq informed reporters that Guterres was centered on avoiding any additional escalation between the US and Venezuela.
“Of course, as always, he believes that any difference must be resolved by peaceful means,” Haq mentioned.
The exchanges got here only a day after Trump mentioned he would impose a blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers transiting Venezuela.
Asked if a blockade would violate worldwide regulation, Haq replied: “I think we are looking at what the applicable laws are at this stage and we’re studying the situation but certainly parties have to abide by the UN Charter and you can read the charter for yourself and see what that entails.”