Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, assassinated by US military forces in 2020. File photo.
This Tuesday, June 14, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, explained at the end of his visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran that General Qasem Soleimani visited Venezuela in 2019, during the crisis that ensued the attacks on the Venezuelan electrical system, which almost left the entire country without electricity for several days. Soleimani brought experts who helped rebuild the Venezuelan electrical system, explained the head of state.
“I didn’t know him, I didn’t know how big he was. The conversation I had with him was very harmonious, where we reviewed all the topics. He immediately offered the support of the Iranian experts, and 2 or 3 days later the Iranian experts were in Venezuela to recover the electrical service,” explained the president during a broadcast by the State owned television network Venezolana de Televisión.
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Soleimani was assassinated on January 3, 2020 in Baghdad, by a US drone airstrike on the Iraqi capital’s airport. The airstrike was ordered by US President Donald Trump without notice to or consultation of his country’s Congress and in violation of international law when the Iranian leader was on an official visit to Iraq, where he was helping in the fight against terrorist organizations.
In March 2019, Venezuela experienced two of the largest blackouts that have ever occurred in its history: the first was on March 7, and it left a large part of the country without electricity for 5 to 7 days, and the second on March 25, affecting 16 states. The Venezuelan government pointed out that a cyber attack on the Guri hydroelectric plant and other strategic facilities would have caused the first blackout, and pointed out that the United States government would have been responsible.
The attacks occurred just weeks after the self-swearing in of former deputy Juan Guaidó as alleged interim president of Venezuela, supported by the US government, and about 2 weeks after a failed attempt to start an invasion of Venezuela disguised as a delivery of humanitarian aid from Cúcuta (Colombia), attempted on February 23, 2019 in the so-called Battle of the Bridges.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/DD
