Interview with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza: “Dialogue is the only option”

The president of the National Assembly of Venezuela Juan Guaidó leads since January 2019 to the opposition in his attempt to overthrow the government of President Nicolás Maduro. For May 1st the world was talking bout a “civic-military uprising” within the framework of what Guaidó called “Operation Freedom” nevertheless, the opposition mobilization was not what the organizers expected to be. In parallel there was a great street act in support for the government. To analyze the situation NODAL interviewed Jorge Arreaza, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister. The opposition led by the president of the National Assembly Juan Guaidó in recent weeks had proclaimed that May 1 would be the day of “Operation Freedom”. What did the opposition seek and what are they looking for now? The Venezuelan opposition since January 23 has entered a phase of a new chapter of a coup continued since several years ago, with the aim always to overthrow the constitutional government of the Bolivarian Revolution to regain control over national wealth and the oil riches to put them at the service of their masters in the United States. They have been placing dates as milestones and it has been a stumble after another, one failure after another, one frustration after another and with the wear of 3, almost 4 months after self-proclaimed a great lord, having had recognition of international powers but not from the Venezuelan people, they called the supposed Operation Freedom but without saying exactly what it was. Everything they do always have a violent plan involved behind, especially this party Popular Will, and at the end, it was just that: an attempted coup. Using a very small group of soldiers, not even reaching 30 men and the vast majority of them, were taken by deceit into a small highway bridge next to a military base to pretend they were inside the military base to call for a coup d’état, a call for the military to betray the constitution and take the side of this Mr. Guaidó, who’s just a piece of the United States government. In the end, what we saw was the only thing that could happen. There was a control of the situation by the Bolivarian National Armed Forces and a control of the situation by the government. Not even the militancy of the opposition went massively to support them; only a few small groups, and the fugitive Leopoldo López they managed to liberate, ended up the day seeking refuge in an embassy. Mr. deputy Guaidó has totally failed in his attempt. That’s what this operation of Operation Freedom was all about. Several US officials insist that “all options are on the table” and President Trump himself said “Many things are going to happen during the next week … Or maybe before” Why the United States is so worried about the situation In Venezuela? Is it an economic issue? Is it oil? Is it a political issue? The obsession of the government of Washington against the Bolivarian Revolution, trying to overthrow the government is not from now but since 2001. It is fundamentally to retake control of the large income of oil rent in Venezuela. Remember that before 1999, even during the first years of the revolution, Commander Chávez had no control at the beginning over the Venezuelan oil industry. Until 2003, when there were sabotage and confrontations, the United States had direct access to the great profit of the Venezuelan income even with preferential prices. From that moment begins the great struggle between the Venezuelan bourgeoisie and the United States versus the revolutionary government and the Venezuelan people over the oil rent. Who controls it? Is it meant to stay in the pockets of a few bankers entrepreneurs or is it to invest in health, education, food and housing? This is what the Bolivarian revolution has been doing. They are obsessed, they have entered a final phase where they are not only behind the conspiracies but they are leading them. Messrs. Trump, Pence, Bolton, Pompeo, Abrams, Marco Rubio, are all leading this coup d’etat. They are trying to set the guidelines, to plan the actions in a geostrategic and geopolitical way with the intention of retaking control in Venezuela for the oil wealth, adding to the fact that we have developed in recent years a model of our own socialist democracy which does not correspond at all with the model of bourgeois liberal democracy that the United States has wanted to impose on the world. The situation in Venezuela is debated in the United Nations and many countries openly express themselves in favor of the opposition or the government of President Nicolás Maduro. How does the diplomatic affect the internal situation? Could an international body help to unblock the crisis? Are there possibilities for dialogue? Indeed the diplomat is one of the war fronts against Venezuela as there is also, a clearly established economic one. In the same way, there is a communicational front and of course the direct war, acting intelligence organs, threat of use of force and financing of armed actions in Venezuela since several years ago. In the diplomat, which is very important, in the United Nations, the United States has exerted brutal pressure on all countries to make them recognize, from that pressure and sometimes through extortion, a totally false and illegitimate government like the one that the opposition claims to proclaim here. What we have done is to act with the governments that defend the Charter of the United Nations according to international law. It is not even a defense for the Venezuelan government or the constitution, although it ends up being indirectly so, It is fundamentally a defense for the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations. Regarding the topic of dialogue, it is the only option. When the gentlemen of the United States say “all the options are on the table” it is false since there is no dialogue, there is no respect for international law, the letter of the United Nations, the Venezuelan constitution and there is no dialogue with the United States. What is there is just their options of force, “you leave or I take you out”, those are their only two options. For us, the only option in democracy is political, social and economic dialogue, dialogue with the opposition. We are sitting at the dialogue table, we should ask the opposition if they want to talk or if the United States gives the authorization to dialogue. Unfortunately, ours is a non-national opposition that responds to the interests of Washington and depends on its authorization. Hopefully the opposition will achieve its independence from the dictates of the United States 200 years after Venezuela and the vast majority of the republics of our America become independent.