President Nicolás Maduro greeting citizens following his arrival in Portuguesa state on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Photo: X/@PartidoPSUV.
During a televised working meeting with Venezuelan agriculture producers from Portuguesa state, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, officially inaugurated the First National Expovenezuela Produce 2024.
“In the coming years we will bring about more gains, more production, and more resources to improve the income of Venezuelan workers,” the president stated during his address at the inauguration this Wednesday, April 17.
He recalled that, in 2019, amid the storm that Venezuela was experiencing due to US illegal sanctions, the government had set the goal of supplying the entire territory with national production, a goal that even in the face of adversity, has been achieved. “We do not need permission from imperialism to grow and advance,” the president added.
With this plan, it has been possible to stabilize the new sustainable currency exchange system and decelerate hyperinflation, with March 2024 being the month with the lowest annual inflation over the last 14 years. The head of state also asked the economic cabinet to work on a new diversified production model, commenting that scientific and technological advances must be used in the production processes on land and sea in order to increase agro-production.
#EnVivo 📹 | I Encuentro Nacional ExpoVenezuela Produce 2024. 5to Aniversario del Miércoles Productivo. https://t.co/DDb7vcphtm
— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) April 17, 2024
Steady growth
From 2021 to date, Venezuela has achieved continuous and sustained growth in gross domestic product (GDP) for 11 uninterrupted quarters. President Maduro said it is for this reason that the US government has intensified illegal sanctions against Venezuela, as a strategy to hit and attack the income of workers.
The president ordered the income of the Venezuelan State to be doubled through the collection of taxes and tributes. “There is no sanction or threat that today will harm the effort to build a new productive economic model,” he added. “We only depend on our collective effort and our goodwill.”
Despite the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) projection of a 4% economic growth for Venezuela in 2024, the president has stated that this year, there will be growth of at least 8%.
“Whether with their neocolonial license or without their license, our country will continue to advance. We do not need a license to produce and to work,” President Maduro added, referring to the OFAC license recently revoked by the White House in their intensification of sanctions in an attempt to destabilize the upcoming Venezuelan presidential elections.
Communique
Venezuela responded this Thursday, April 18, to the most recent violation by the US empire of its commitment made in September of last year, to lift their unilateral illegal sanctions against the Venezuelan gas and oil sector, with a statement read by the foreign minister of Venezuela, Yván Gil.
The official document reads that, with these actions, the US is harming the world energy market, and above all, its own investments and interests in the Venezuelan oil industry. It points out that once again, Washington is breaking its word and is seeking, using economic pressure, to affect the presidential elections scheduled for July 28.
Washington Revokes Oil and Gas License Issued to Venezuela (+Sanctions)
It is for this reason that the Venezuelan government, together with the workers and all citizens of the nation, reiterates to the world that with or without licenses, it is determined to be a free nation.
Below, you can read the unofficial translation of the government’s statement:
The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela rejects once again the claim of the government of the United States of America to monitor, protect, control, and manipulate the Venezuelan oil industry through its illegal policy of imposing coercive measures and licenses, consistent practices with a colonialist vision that the free and sovereign people of Venezuela will never recognize or accept.
Yesterday, the government of the United States consummated its policy of violating the commitments reached under the facilitation of the State of Qatar, signed between the Undersecretary of State Brian Nichols and the President of the National Assembly Jorge Rodríguez, on September 28 in Doha, which implied the complete elimination of the illegal unilateral coercive measures at the time of the calling of the constitutional presidential elections of 2024.
The United States is not harming an independent Venezuela that has learned to overcome its aggressions, on the contrary, it is harming any attempt to normalize bilateral relations, the international energy market that is severely affected today by Washington’s warlike impulses, and above all, it harms its own investments and interests in the Venezuelan oil industry.
Due to mere electoral calculations, once again the United States fails to keep its word and attempts in vain, with economic pressures and violence from minority political sectors of the extreme right that receive its support, to harm the electoral process on July 28.
200 years ago, men and women gave their lives to forge an independent homeland and for this reason, the future, prosperity, and happiness of Venezuela depend solely on the collective efforts of its people and government.
The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, on behalf of the workers, the business sector, and all the living and productive forces of the nation, rejects imperialist aggression and reminds the entire world that with or without licenses, with illegal coercive measures or without them, it is determined to be a free nation, which no force will be able to stop while it builds its future of peace and prosperity.
Caracas, April 18, 2024
(RedRadioVE) by Veronica Chacon Cascio with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
