Maduro: US Retains $5 Billion for Medicine Purchases
USA withholds 5,000 million dollars of funds from the Government of Venezuela for the purchase of medicines, the Venezuelan president accused.
“The criminal nature of the sanctions of the blockade on the Government by (the US President) Donald Trump against Venezuela, against all Venezuela, is the persecution they are doing against medicines , they have kidnapped from us 5000 million dollars to buy medicines in the world”, Nicolás Maduro affirmed on Wednesday when announcing an agreement for the production, distribution and import of medicines with the World Health Organization (WHO).
During the visit to a drug factory in the city of Charallave, in the state of Miranda (north), the Venezuelan leader also praised the “tremendous effort” made by the Bolivarian nation to provide free and quality health services in order of “being able to overcome all the aggression” coming from the White House.
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Maduro accused Trump of causing the shortage of medicines in Venezuela to justify the introduction of his supposed humanitarian aid .
“Donald Trump, you are responsible for one of the most criminal measures against a people of the world; boycott all our medicine acquisition attempts and then he comes and say they are willing to give “humanitarian aid”. Hypocrites, cynics and frauds,” he said.
The Venezuelan head of state is assured, however, that the South American country “has enough availability to cover at least 70 percent of the internal needs” in terms of active ingredients and surgical medical equipment, and said that it will cover the rest of its demand by importing medical items from Russia , China, India, Iran, Turkey and Belarus.
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Since last January 23, when coup leader Juan Guaidó, head of the Venezuelan National Assembly (AN) – in contempt since 2016 and controlled by the opposition-, proclaimed himself, with Washington’s backing, “interim president” of Venezuela, the US has spared no effort in trying to overthrow the legitimate government of Maduro.
The US coup plot includes sanctions and the freezing of Venezuelan assets in the United States and other countries.
Venezuela denounces Washington’s support of the coup in the Caribbean country as “concealing” the “desire to seize the rich natural resources of Venezuela .”
ahn / anz / fdd / rba
Translated by JRE/EF
