Maduro: Oil, gold & other riches behind Trump’s Venezuela crusade
Venezuela’s natural reserves, such as oil, gas, and gold, encourage the US to seek regime change there, President Maduro told RT, saying he won’t be remembered as a leader who showed weakness and ignorance to his people.
“What ‘casus belli’ does Donald Trump have against Venezuela? Venezuelan oil. Venezuela’s riches – gold, gas, diamonds, iron, water,” Maduro said in an exclusive interview with RT Spanish. The remarks come as Western nations pile overwhelming pressure on the Latin American country.
Maduro, who is widely seen as the successor to the cause of late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, said it doesn’t matter how he will go down in history.
What does matter, he said, is that he doesn’t want to be a “traitor” and a “weak person,” bowing down to Washington.
Turmoil in Venezuela escalated on the heels of economic hardships which saw the country suffer from galloping inflation, skyrocketing prices and low living standards. Yet, Maduro believes his government has a solution to those troubles.
Admitting that “hyperinflation caused tremendous damage to us,” he suggested that the resources “kidnapped by the world” be freed for a national recovery. Aside from that, the government will work on keeping prices as low as possible and will stabilize the national currency rate.
US sanctions also did their job, Maduro said. He labelled Washington’s restrictions against state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) and its US subsidiary Citgo illegal, saying Caracas will respond. “Measures like these have never been introduced against any other country,” stated Maduro.
Also on rt.com ‘Direct nexus between US sanctions & death’ – UN rapporteur slams ‘economic war’ on VenezuelaCIA World Factbook for 2017 says Venezuela has the world’s biggest proven crude oil reserves, surpassing those of Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran and Iraq. During the crisis, Venezuelan officials suggested that oil is behind US attempt to replace Maduro with someone friendlier to Washington.
As Bush-era arch-hawk John Bolton put it, the US had “a lot at stake” in Venezuela’s affairs. “It will make a big difference to the United States economically if we could have American oil companies invest in and produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela,” he told Fox Business host Trish Regan.
The US has steadily toughened sanctions on Venezuela in recent years in an effort to weaken the government and destabilize economy. Some international observers believe the sanctions and economic war hit Venezuela’s people in the first place, contributing to the lack of medicine, malnutrition and mortality.
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