Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez participates in the Bolivarian Militia enlistment drive in Carabobo. Photo: Vice Presidency of Venezuela.
The Venezuelan vice president and minister of petroleum, Delcy Rodríguez, highlighted the bravery of the workers who responded to the military enlistment call made by President Nicolás Maduro to defend the homeland in the face of US invasion threats.
“We are ready. For the love of Venezuela,” said Rodríguez in a speech delivered on Friday, August 29, at an event in the El Palito Refinery in the state of Carabobo, one of the largest oil refining complexes in the country. “Venezuela is not a threat. Venezuela is hope.”
The enlistment drive, called by President Nicolás Maduro, is part of the Simón Bolívar Great National Plan for Sovereignty and Peace. It comes in response to an escalation of threats from the United States, including military maneuvers in the southern Caribbean and the ongoing economic blockade.
Delcy Rodríguez’s message to oil sector workers
One of the central themes of Rodríguez’s message was the strategic role of workers in the energy sector. “In 2002, we faced one of the longest sabotages in history: 62 days when the oil industry was paralyzed by extremists and fascists at the service of foreign interests,” she said, referring to the oil strike that, according to official figures, cost the country more than $25 billion in just two months.
However, the deepest blow, she continued, has been the economic blockade imposed by the United States, which, according to data presented by the Venezuelan government, has caused an accumulated loss of nearly $600 billion in five years. “That is not good for the country. Yet, we have resisted. We have proven it: the last 17 quarters show economic recovery,” she emphasized.
In this context, the mobilization of oil sector workers is not a symbolic act, but a comprehensive defense strategy. “We are ready to defend peace, tranquility, productive processes, growth, and prosperity,” Rodríguez stated. “Nothing will stop Venezuela.”
Carabobo
The chosen setting was not a coincidence. Carabobo, the cradle of the battle that consolidated Venezuela’s independence in 1821, once again positioned itself as a symbol of resistance. Carabobo Governor Rafael Lacava reinforced this message. “Carabobo is unbeatable, irreversible,” he said, referring to the historic popular uprising that marked the country’s destiny more than two centuries ago.
“Today, all Venezuelans are combatants,” he continued, adding that the current threat comes from “a tiny group of failed politicians, fascist psychopaths” who operate under the aegis of a foreign power.
“Let us not expect anything from anyone, except from ourselves. We have forged this land of freedom, sovereignty, self-determination,” he concluded.
False narco-state narratives
Rodríguez also repudiated the fabricated US narrative that Venezuela is a “narcostate.” “The ‘Cartel de los Soles’ is simply a big lie. It is not new. It is a historical pattern of the United States to intervene in countries that are not docile to it,” she stated, referring to previous interventions in Iraq, Libya, or Panama under false pretenses.
“First it was terrorism, then weapons of mass destruction, now drug trafficking. They always need a villain to justify aggression,” she pointed out. “Here, there will be no foreign flag. Here, there is one people, one body, one spirit ready to defend its land, its identity, its Venezuelan-ness.”
“We do not want war. We want peace. Peace is defended with strength, unity, awareness,” she emphasized. She also issued a final warning to the US, “If you dare to be aggressive, it will go very badly for you. We will be your calamity. We will be your nightmare.”
Rodríguez also raised the alarm for the entire region: “A war against Venezuela will mean instability for the entire continent.”
(Telesur)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SF
