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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady and National Assembly Deputy Cilia Flores, participating in the ceremony for the beginning of the judicial year, held on Wednesday, January 31, at the headquarters of the Venezuelan Supreme Court in Caracas. Photo: X/@NicolasMaduro.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, has responded to the threats of the United States government to resume unilateral sanctions against the oil and mining sector of the country. The president emphasized the fact that Venezuelans, in addition to being a free and independent sovereign people, do not depend “either on gringos or on anyone” to progress.
“Today there is another world, and our country must know, our people must know that another world has already been born, and we no longer depend on gringos or anyone in this world to invest, to prosper, to progress, to advance, to grow,” Maduro said on Wednesday, January 31, during the Solemn Opening Session of the 2024 Judicial Year, held at the main headquarters of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), in Caracas.
President Maduro also highlighted that in recent years—despite the sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union, and the conspiracies planned by sectors of the national and foreign extreme right—Venezuelans have learned to face all types of economic, social, and political difficulties, and know how to overcome any of them, to ensure that the country continues on its path of improvement and growth through its own efforts.
He recalled that the Venezuelan extreme right—meaning the oligarchic families such as “the Borges, López, Machado, Ledezma, Capriles,” among others—have always wanted to “set the country on fire,” and so they have promoted sanctions, blockades, and even tried to create a parallel state; a plan that, thanks to the unified strength of the Venezuelan people and their institutions, was defeated and ended “in the garbage dump of history,” as the president explained.
However, President Maduro also took care to warn that these extremist plans still remain active and are supported by the United States, a country that refuses to respect the decisions of the institutions of the sovereign state of Venezuela, such as the recent rulings issued by the TSJ on the right-wing politicians who were disqualified from running in the upcoming presidential elections for their commission of a variety of crimes.
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Maduro noted that the Political-Administrative Chamber of the TSJ evaluated each of the cases, “in compliance with the Constitution,” alongside the provisions of the Barbados Agreement signed by the delegations of the Venezuelan government and the radical opposition sector grouped in their so-called Unitary Platform.
“It is a matter judged, res judicata, a firm ruling, to be fulfilled and abide by,” said the president, who announced that “under any circumstance,” in 2024 there will be free presidential elections in Venezuela.
President Maduro added that in order for the country to progress and achieve true last peace, first “there must be justice.” For this reason, he said that “neither violence,” (in regard to María Corina Machado), “nor the extremists, nor the oligarchy,” (who now threaten to push for more sanctions from their US allies and prevent the upcoming presidential elections), “no one can be above the country and the Constitution.”
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
