Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Wednesday afternoon issued an emphatic call for political understanding with the Donald Trump administration, while also attacking"CIA-led coups" in Latin America and comparing the situation in Venezuela to that preceding the overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile and the beginning of the military dictatorship in Argentina. The Bolivarian leader addressed the United States and asked all sectors of society in the North American country to be"alert to avoid a war in the Caribbean, in South America."
“Peace must triumph,” affirmed Maduro, who also resorted to his deliberately clumsy English to proclaim “Not war, peace.” “No to regime change, which reminds us so much of the failed wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. No to coups carried out by the CIA [the US intelligence agency] like those in Chile and Argentina. How long will CIA coups continue? Latin America doesn't want them, doesn't need them, and repudiates them,” continued Hugo Chávez's successor. These statements came a few hours after Trump confirmed that he has authorized the agency to carry out covert operations inside Venezuela.
"I authorized it... for two reasons," Trump said during an event in the Oval Office. The tycoon argues that"Venezuela has emptied its prisons in the United States," referring to the alleged arrival in the country of criminals linked to the Tren de Aragua mega-gang, and maintains that"many drugs come from Venezuela, many of them come by sea..." On Tuesday, the president had announced the fifth sinking of a supposed drug boat from Venezuela. Now his goal is to expand these operations, which have already left 27 dead:"We're also going to stop them on land."
Amid the military escalation, the Miraflores Palace issued a statement rejecting"the bellicose and extravagant statements by the President of the United States, in which he admits to having authorized operations to act against the peace and security of Venezuela."
While Maduro led a new public event in favor of peace to send conciliatory messages to the United States, seeking to relieve the pressure, within the Chavista leadership, Diosdado Cabello, Minister of the Interior and Justice, and Vladimir Padrino López, Minister of Defense, are steadily advancing the militarization of all the country's territories, with special emphasis on the coastal areas.
Maduro meets daily with new political and civil actors, government officials and independents, diplomats, and intellectuals close to his cause, to try to make peace a cause. These events are broadcast almost daily on radio and television.
The call for peace to the United States government and society was made by the National Council for Sovereignty and Peace at the Teresa Carreño Theater. This event, sponsored by the national executive branch, seeks to convene all political actors and members of civil society, including the business community, in response to this military threat. The council has issued several statements in defense of national sovereignty and peace.
The coordinator of the secretariat of this body is Jorge Rodríguez, the Government's political operator par excellence. A day ago, amidst total secrecy regarding the selection of María Corina Machado as Nobel Peace Prize winner, the private media had to meet with representatives of the Executive to reaffirm their public commitment to peace and the promotion of the values that underpin it.
During this Council meeting, Rodríguez stated that more than 50 activities have been carried out, and Regional Sovereignty and Peace Councils have been established, involving civil society in every state in the country. He asserted that they have incorporated diverse sectors of the population, foreign communities, and social movements, including"54 of the 56 political parties accredited with the National Electoral Council."
