Venezuela's National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez during a debate about Argentina and Washington's attempt to rob another Venezuelan asset, the Boeing 747-300 belonging to cargo company EMTRASUR. Photo: HispanTV.
The president of the Venezuelan Parliament says that as long as the Venezuelan jumbo jet unlawfully grounded in Argentina is not returned, there will be no dialogue with the opposition.
On Tuesday, August 9, Venezuela’s national assembly president, Jorge Rodríguez, said that: “We are not going to move, neither in matters of dialogue nor negotiation, nor anything else for that matter. Very simply, just as we said with the kidnapped diplomat Alex Saab, we are going to tell them two things: you return the plane to us and we want our kidnapped brothers back.”
Similarly, the also head of the official delegation for the Mexico Talks, currently frozen, between the government of Venezuela and the opposition, requested the return of the Venezuelan Boeing 747-300 held with Venezuelan and Iranian crew members in Argentina since June 6.
In statements during a legislative session, Rodríguez called the retention of the aircraft “a vulgar kidnapping,” and warned that, if it is not returned, Venezuelans will “fight” in the streets and even in international forums.
RELATED CONTENT: ‘We Are Very Pissed Off’: President Maduro on EMTRASUR 747 Hijacked by Argentina
On the other hand, he criticized the decision of the Argentine judiciary to retain the plane and its crew, and assured that this system and the prosecutor in the case, Cecilia Incardona, are not autonomous. “This prosecutor is not autonomous, [she depends] on the embassy of the United States of America, she is an employee of the US Embassy, do not come to me with the myth of Argentine Judiciary independence, it is a lie,” he stressed.
After news reports of a recent visit by Argentine prosecutor to the US Embassy in Buenos Aires, Rodriguez questioned: “Did she go to the US Embassy to ask for a visa to go to Disney? No, nobody saw her going out with the little Mickey Mouse ears from the embassy. She went to collect, she went there to be given the money, the corresponding payment for committing a kidnapping.”
#9Ago || Sesión Ordinaria|| Por Unanimidad es aprobado el Proyecto de Acuerdo en repudio a la intención aviesa del Gobierno de los EEUU de apropiarse ilegalmente del avión secuestrado en la República Argentina y que pertenece al pueblo venezolano. pic.twitter.com/1q1vtKmtXa
— Asamblea Nacional 🇻🇪 (@Asamblea_Ven) August 9, 2022
The Chavista leader also said that a commission from the Venezuelan National Assembly (AN) will visit the Argentine embassy this Thursday to present a document demanding the return of the plane and the kidnapped workers.
His statements came before the Venezuelan Parliament and were unanimously approved in agreement with the, “repudiation of the perverse intention of the US government to illegally seize the plane hijacked in the Argentine Republic that belongs to the Venezuelan people.”
RELATED CONTENT: PSUV Demands Argentina Return EMTRASUR Plane
The retained aircraft, a Boeing 747-300, loaded with parts for companies in the automotive sector, covering the Ezeiza (Argentina)-Montevideo (Uruguay)-Caracas (Venezuela) route, entered Argentina on June 6 from Mexico and two days later it took off to go to Uruguay, but landed again in the Buenos Aires airport of Ezeiza because Uruguay did not allow it to land for refuelling.
The Argentine oil companies did not refuel the plane either, under the pretext of US sanctions. A few days later, a judge ordered for the passports to be withheld from the crew members —five Iranians and 14 Venezuelans— to be prevented from leaving the country in the framework of a groundless case for possible links to international terrorism, without presenting a single probe.
At the beginning of August, an Argentine judge annulled the prohibition to leave the country and authorized the departure of 12 of the 19 crew members of the plane. However, it still decided to retain four Iranians and three Venezuelans, considering that there are still elements to investigate.
In his speech, the socialist leader branded the architects of the retention of the Venezuelan plane and its crew as “thieves” and attacked the media for spreading false information about the ownership of the plane.
“From that absurd reasoning they should say ‘the French-Iranian-Venezuelan plane,’ because that plane was sold by Air France to Iran. It was France that sold that plane to Iran and Iran, in turn, sold the plane to Venezuela, which is a completely normal transaction,” he said.
(HispanTV) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/DD
