Propaganda being spread about Venezuela – Ambassador

Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to St Vincent and the Grenadines Yuri Pimentel said on Wednesday that his country is plagued by new dangers and threats every day and outsiders must be alerted about the propaganda being spread.

Ambassador Pimentel’s comments come amidst daily protests in his homeland and a call last month by the Organization of American States (OAS) recommending the suspension of Venezuela from the 34-nation body, unless President Nicolas Maduro’s government moves quickly to hold general elections.

“We are obliged to share and alert the world, especially the friends of the Bolivarian Revolution, of the threat that is being wrought on our country and the recent events that have unleashed a battle of resistance and defence for our sovereignty,” Ambassador Pimentel said, while speaking on Wednesday at the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on Murray’s Road.

He said that he chose to address a local audience in April because this is the month filled with important dates in the history of Venezuela.

On April 14th, 2013, Nicolás Maduro was elected President of the Republic and the Opposition refused to acknowledge the results and called for violence in the streets.

“Their losing candidate, Henrique Capriles, told his followers to come out to ‘show their anger,’ which resulted in 13 deaths and hundreds of injuries across the country,” said the Ambassador, who said that the mainstream media has refused to show the violence in his country that is being suppported by outside influences.

The Ambassador said that over the years, Venezuela has been in turmoil, a problem that can be linked to the support of Washington.

He said that mechanisms of solidarity and integration, such as Petrocaribe and ALBA, were never accepted by the White House, neither with Democrats nor with Republicans, “and they have always conspired (as they did in 2002) to end the Bolivarian Revolution.”

“Today, we are facing a similar situation, plagued by new dangers and threats against our country, and from this we want to alert our brothers and sisters of St Vincent and the Grenadines. The international campaign is brutal, by all means, against our country. We are in our right to defend ourselves and it is necessary to share our truths,” stressed Pimentel.

He told the gathering that “this international conspiracy” proposes, through destabilization, chaos and vandalism, to ferment a foreign intervention that produces a “change of regime”.

The Ambassador said that the acceleration of the conspiracy is aimed at stopping the economic recovery of the country that has been manifesting strongly since the beginning of this year, among other things.

“In this regard, yesterday (Tuesday), the US State Department issued a statement in which it openly called for the coup and threatened our Armed Forces.

“In this context, a scheme of street vandalism and attacks on public spaces and private property (fires and looting) has been designed, through the hiring of common criminals or political offenders, in particular using the opposition youths,” said the Ambassador.

He said that with the support of the media, news agencies and disinformation strategies in social networks, these violent actions are presented to the world as “peaceful protests” that are supposedly carried out in the demand for elections and respect for human rights.

“In order to provoke incidents that justify the narrative of the repression that is sold to the world, protests designed by the Venezuelan Opposition are carried out without obtaining the permits of law, violating norms of mobility, closing streets and public roads by means of lightning actions that surprise the authorities and citizens, in which they provoke fires, closures of streets and assault to the public transport.”

He reported that the unfortunate results of these actions have been seven fatalities to date, and these are also presented as the result of a supposed repression by a Government that violates human rights.

“In this way, a narrative is imposed on the world that criminalizes Venezuela, fires alarms in world public opinion, and arouses the concern of international organizations, creating the false sense that an intervention is inevitable to restore democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela.

“As has been done in Syria, Libya and Iraq, the violent actions and the criminals who commit them are shown to the world as fighters for democracy and freedom and the unfortunate consequences of these acts are blamed on the Venezuelan government,” the Ambassador said passionately.

He revealed that on Tuesday, the opposition National Assembly’s President, Julio Borges, openly called on the military to overthrow President Maduro.

“In what country of the world is such call for insurrection tolerated? But internationally, Borges, who participated actively in the coup against Chávez in 2002, is shown as a fighter for democracy.

“In Mexico, dozens of journalists have been killed so far this year, mass graves have been found, etc. In Paraguay a few days ago the Parliament was set on fire in protest against President Cartes, and the police killed (it is filmed in video) a young man and an opposition deputy. In Colombia, cocaine production has increased and hundreds of social leaders have been killed so far this year. The United States builds a wall and treats immigrants as trash. However, none of this is discussed in the OAS. Its only obsession is Venezuela.”

Ambassador Pimentel said that it is important that the countries of the OECS stand together with Venezuela, a sentiment shared by President Maduro when he met with the OECS heads last week.