This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
NICOLAS MADURO: That's a sensible issue. It's a pending issue for the Bolivarian Revolution. Without a doubt we have given a tremendous battle against the rotten culture of corruption, against corrupt officials. We have given a tremendous battle. First Commander Hugo Chavez and then it was my turn. It is a bitter battle.
It has been up to me to carry out orders, following impartial and scientific investigations, to carry out orders given to me by the Attorney General and the courts to imprison ministers. And I have sent them to jail, several ministers.
It was up to me to imprison high level officials, from PDVSA for example, where we revealed a mafia. That man you mentioned, Rafael Ramà rez, he's the biggest mafioso, the biggest thief. It pains me to say it, because he was with us. Chavez trusted him, and he mocked and betrayed Chavez's trust. Now he lives in a massive palace in Italy, protected by the US government.
Because that's another thing, all the corrupt people we discover here end up fleeing. They go live in Miami, in Florida. Not just corrupt public officials, but corrupt people in the private sector.
I can say that the big financier of Marco Rubio and Donald Trump's campaign, a man by the last name of [Nelson] Mezerhane who was the owner of the Federal Bank in Venezuela he's a financier, he's one of the most corrupt people who took billions of dollars that were stolen from his bank's depositors in Venezuela. He lives in Florida protected by the US government.
It's a double standard. I can say that it's a pending issue. I can say that the corrupt practice of some officials harms the people. I can say that I can commit fully to the people that I will expand the battle for ethics, for morality, against corruption. You can be absolutely sure of that.
MAX BLUMENTHAL: We've talked a little about your opposition here. Your foreign minister is in Barbados right now, in dialogue with the opposition. And there is a mediated dialogue as well in Norway.
The last time this happened was in 2018, when you agreed to early elections at their request. You moved up the elections, and then you entered into negotiations with Voluntad Popular and the MUD.
And ultimately they decided to boycott the elections to delegitimize the election. And then the US I believe threatened to sanction Henri Falcà ³n, the main opposition candidate, for running in the election.
Do you think the outcome might have been different in 2018 if they had all participated and joined around one candidate? Do you think they could have won? Especially given the state of the economy under sustained US attack.
And I guess another part of the question would be, do you see any hope for this dialogue when they're demanding early elections again? What is the point?
NICOLAS MADURO: The opposition has always been like that and the world should know this. First of all, the opposition isn't in charge of itself. They have owners, they have bosses. These owners, these bosses, unfortunately are in Washington.
It's not an independent opposition, with its own positions. They cannot reach an agreement with us if Washington does not agree and tell them to do it. That's the point we have reached in this situation.
It's what happened in January and February in 2018. The opposition had spent three years asking that the presidential elections be held early. We went to a dialogue and we said yes, let's hold the presidential elections early.
We reached an agreement, drafted the document, gave every electoral guarantee, and when we were going to sign the document, in front of the president of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina, and the former president of Spain, Rodriguez Zapatero they are witnesses to this the documents were ready to be signed, and Donald Trump's then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called and he gave the order to the opposition's chief negotiator Julio Borges to not sign it.
His owner, Rex Tillerson, gave the order. A part of the opposition refused to participate in the elections. Could they have won? I don't know. We have a base. We have won 23 of 25 elections.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
3
2
2
