In a message addressed to the European Union (EU), Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro said that “Venezuela has dignity and will know how to respond aggressions, wherever they may come from” in reference to the imposition of illegal sanctions against 19 officials from the National Assembly, the Supreme Court of Justice and the National Electoral Council.
Maduro pointed out that while Venezuela looks forward to establishing “the best relations with Europe, we cannot accept their attacks against Venezuela.”
“They believe they are superior. They believe they are the government of Venezuela, the new world’s imperial power. They do not want to be left behind when it comes to their imperial, colonialist ambitions in Latin America, specifically in Venezuela,” said the Venezuelan president.
President Maduro’s remarks came after the EU Ambassador, Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa, was declared persona non grata and asked to leave the country in 72 hours by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza.
“We did not want to do it; we did it against our will,” stressed the Venezuelan president.
Nevertheless, President Maduro said the illegal sanctions imposed by the European Union prove “their misery in making international decisions to punish opposition deputies who participated in the December 6 elections, as if they (the EU) can decide on Venezuelan affairs, something that only concerns us, by sanctioning magistrates and attacking the Electoral Power.”
The Venezuelan president reaffirmed the European Union will be welcomed in the country “only if they respect Venezuela, our country’s democracy, democratic institutions and dignity.”
He explained that the EU illegal sanctions constitute “an attack against an entire country,” and acknowledged that, prior to the imposition of sanctions, “we were pursuing dialogue, significantly moving forward with a European country to resume dialogue with opposition sectors and chavismo, but not like this.”
“Either you (the European Union) rectify the situation or there will be no agreement of any kind and there will be no further talks. Venezuela deserves to be treated with dignity,” he added.