The Venezuelan Armed Forces recognized this Sunday (4) the country’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, as interim president of Venezuela.
In a video, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López also rejected US intervention in the country and demanded the release of President Nicolas Maduro, captured by the United States government. López assessed that the attack represents “a global threat”.
“If today it was against Venezuela, tomorrow it could be against any State, against any country.”
“We reject this colonialist pretension that is sought to be implemented, in the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine, in Latin America and the Caribbean,” said the minister, asking the people of Venezuela to resume their activities over the next few days.
The Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela (TSJ, in its Spanish acronym) had already decided that Delcy Rodríguez should assume the interim presidency of the countryfollowing the capture of leader Nicolás Maduro by the United States.
Understand
On Saturday (3), several explosions were recorded in neighborhoods in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. Amid the military attack carried out by the United States, the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured by elite American forces and taken to New York.
The attack marked a new episode of direct North American interventions in Latin America. The last time the United States invaded a Latin American country was in 1989, in Panamawhen US military personnel kidnapped then-president Manuel Noriega, accusing him of drug trafficking.
Just as they did with Noriega, the United States accuses Maduro of leading an alleged Venezuelan cartel called De Los Soles, without presenting evidence. Experts in international drug trafficking question the existence of the cartel.
Donald Trump’s government offered a reward of US$50 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest.
For critics, the action is a geopolitical measure to distance Venezuela from global adversaries of the United States, such as China and Russia, in addition to exerting greater control over the country’s oil, which owns the largest proven oil reserves on the planet.
