A view of the Boeing 747-300 cargo plane of EMTRASUR destroyed by the US government, in an Florida state airport. Photo: PBS.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, condemned the “dismemberment of the Conviasa airplane that was hijacked. They removed the flag, they erased the name of Luisa Cáceres de Arismendi, the name of Emtrasur, and then chopped it into pieces.”
The Venezuelan minister for Transportation and president of Conviasa, Ramón Celestino Velásquez Araguayán, stated that the United States has violated all international regulations and aviation agreements by hijacking the Venezuelan cargo plane and destroying it. “What they want is to demoralize the Venezuelan people, but there is every sign that we will recover,” the minister said. “Conviasa will continue to grow and expand its national and international routes.”
On Thursday, February 29, Minister Velásquez Araguayán posted in his X account that the US government maintains a cemetery of “more than 5,000 airplanes in the Arizona desert, degrading the environment of the planet. Yesterday they tore apart the EMTRASUR plane to demoralize the Venezuelan people and to demonstrate their imperialist character.”
En el desierto de Arizona, el Gobierno de USA mantiene un cementerio de más de 5.000 aviones, degradando el ambiente del planeta. Ayer despedazaron el avión de EMTRASUR, para desmoralizar al pueblo venezolano y demostrar su carácter imperial. Hoy se cumplen 20 años del llamado… pic.twitter.com/92OIuat6Ue
— Ramón Celestino Velásquez Araguayán (@rvaraguayan) February 29, 2024
Plan to dismember CITGO
President Maduro also denounced the US government for its illegal appropriation of CITGO, a subsidiary of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA in US territory that refines and supplies fuel throughout the United States.
“The criminals of the oligarchy, who asked for sanctions and who stole our plane, we tell them that the traitors, the criminals, will never come back,” the president added.
He stated that CITGO is worth more than $12 billion, and now the US government and the Venezuelan oligarchy want to “steal and dismember CITGO to the detriment of the Venezuelan people.”
“The people recognize the betrayal of the oligarchy, but whatever they do, this year the people will teach them a lesson and they will never come back,” he added.
He warned the US not to mess with the dignity and nobility of the Venezuelan people “who today are more prepared than ever.”
(Últimas Noticias) by Larry Márquez
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
