Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro next to Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino during the president's inauguration for his second term in 2020. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has presented a message to bid farewell to the year, reiterating the Venezuelan commitment to sovereignty and peace. “2025 concludes, leaving us with invaluable memories and lessons in the struggle for our homeland,” he stated, “the birthplace of Bolívar, which maintains its unwavering right to exist, to peace, and to integral development. Every battle and trial overcome is a testament to the vitality of a people who become men and women to defend their destiny.”
In a video posted on social media this Wednesday, December 31, the head of state declared that by the end of 2025, the power of the Venezuelan nation can be seen to have been consolidated in new popular ways. He asserted that people’s power had expanded and that economic power was strengthened, and that social power was increasingly bolstered by diversified social missions. He also mentioned the progress made in the spiritual, cultural, and identity-related power of the Venezuelan people.
“Mission accomplished 2025; we are moving forward!” he continued. “As the clock strikes midnight, I invite every Venezuelan to offer a prayer to god for peace, unity, growing prosperity, and the greatness of our land.”
The Chavista leader affirmed that 2026 will be a blessed and miraculous year to bring about greater national recovery, deepen the transformations outlined in the Plan of the Seven Transformations (7T), and safeguard peace as the nation’s most precious asset.
“Let us toast to a future of independence and to the building of a new society founded on the values of Christ the Redeemer,” he concluded. “Happy New Year, Venezuela!”
From the state of Aragua, during the inauguration of the Nora Castañeda International School of Women’s Leadership on Tuesday, the head of state said that during 2025, Venezuela has experienced a “big bang” of communal power and social movements, and that it has been “a good year for the family, the community, society, and the republic.”
President Maduro emphasized that in 2026, he is putting Venezuelan women at the forefront of the nation’s new challenges. “I can tell you that 70% of the leadership in the country’s communal councils and communes are women; they are the ones doing the work,” he explained. “I can tell you that almost 50% of the parliamentarians, deputies, and representatives elected in the new National Assembly, which will be installed in January, are women. It has been a good year.”
US provocations failing
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López stated on Tuesday that the military and psychological operations the US regime has attempted to impose against Venezuela to intimidate the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) have not worked, and that they have only strengthened military awareness in defense of the homeland.
During a tour of the Special Unit of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) in the popular Caracas barrio of Cotiza, the military commander reaffirmed the institution’s stance against colonialism, asserting that the unity of Venezuelans makes the country infallible against threats from US imperialism.
“We want nothing to do with colonialists,” he explained. “If they intended to come here to demoralize us, intimidate us, or frighten us, they have achieved the exact opposite: greater awareness within the FANB, an emerging power born from Venezuelan democratic institutions and the grassroots people. From this springs national power and military power, which, together with People’s Power, is completely infallible.”
(Últimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
