Mutual respect and not dictation should serve as the basis for international relations, said in an interview with Sputnik the Minister of foreign Relations of Venezuela, Félix Plasencia.
“The relations between sovereign States and other foreign entities, which are related to that sovereign State, must be based on respect, on connection, not on interference, not on imposition, not on the pretension of imposing protocols or dictating lines, or trying to impose a paternalistic dynamic of the things that we should or should not do”, he stressed, underlining that “this is not acceptable”.
The minister insisted that “Venezuela and the Bolivarian Republic, the government of President Nicolás Maduro do not accept it”.
According to Plasencia, “Venezuela does not demand capricious things” since “in relations between countries there are principles that govern”.
“The respect for sovereignty is a principle that we have not invented, that we support, of course we do, and that we defend, of course we do, respect for the sovereignty of an independent State”.
Legitimacy of the elections
Venezuela’s general elections do not need recognition by the EU to be legitimate, Plasencia told Sputnik.
“We are not waiting for any seal of recognition imposed by the European observation. The election process in Venezuela is legitimate because it is a democratic process and because the Venezuelan people vote. That is the only thing that is fundamental for Venezuela”, he said.
On November 21, Venezuela will hold regional and municipal elections. The Venezuelan government invited observers from the European Union to these elections, and the community bloc agreed to send them, for the first time since 2006.
“I insist, we have invited them before, several times. Now they decided to accept the invitation. Congratulations. Welcome. We are waiting for you”, said Plasencia.
The minister reiterated that Venezuela is holding “electoral processes with a very modern system and we do not need any legitimacy to recognize our electoral process”.
He recalled that despite the fact that the European Union was unaware of the elections in recent years, Venezuela is “functioning normally”.
He indicated that the EU “is a recognized, respected body” but emphasized that Venezuela does not intervene “in who its authorities are, how they are elected, how they are chosen” since “they are matters for the decision of European citizens”.
“We demand the respect that the Venezuelan citizens deserve. It is the people of Venezuela who decide what the government dynamics is like, who the government is and there is a rule of law and a legal dynamic”, he stressed, noting that in “Venezuela there is an electoral system that is internationally recognized as very modern, rated as one of the most modern in the world”.
Plasencia also recalled that Venezuela and the EU signed an agreement on participation “as guests of the sovereign Government of Venezuela to observe the elections”.
“It is a broad agreement that exhaustively stipulates all the things and all the details of how an accompaniment of the European Union should be in the electoral process of November 21 in Venezuela, which is a process where all the governors will be chosen, all mayors and all municipal councils. It is a mega election where more than 70 thousand candidates are going to participate”, he pointed out.
Human rights violations
The investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will not find human rights violations in Venezuela, he said.
“This confirms our determination to blunt, to dismantle that matrix of negative, harmful, misleading opinion that there are human rights violations in Venezuela. It is very easy to go to any media and make an accusation like that and with such a serious level to build a matrix of negative opinion against Venezuela”, he said, referring to the invitation made by the Venezuelan authorities to the prosecutor of the ICC, Karim Khan, to visit the country.
Plasencia insisted that the country’s authorities are convinced that “there is no case, that there is nothing to prove, that there is nothing to look for, because in Venezuela there is a rule of law, in Venezuela the institutions work”.
“There is nothing hidden behind the transparent attitude of the national government and there are no worries. We are convinced that our institutions work, that we care that our judicial bodies work and that we know and comply with the Rome Statute”, he said, underlining that “in Venezuela we are committed to legality, to the laws”.
Khan, who made a three-day official visit to this nation, decided to open an investigation into Venezuela for alleged human rights violations.
In February 2018, the ICC began a preliminary examination of Venezuela for alleged abuses by its security forces in protests against the government in 2017 and in prisons where some opponents are held.
The Maduro Government
In addition, Plasencia stressed that the Government of Nicolás Maduro is the only one that is accepted by the UN system.
“There is only one Government in Venezuela accepted by the United Nations system, which is the Government of President Nicolás Maduro. That is the important thing. The rest are isolated, unilateralist speculations”, he said.
The foreign minister recalled that for several years “they have tried to delegitimize the democratic dynamics in Venezuela”.
“And we are functioning normally in a country that moves, a country that produces, a country that consumes, a country that operates internationally, a country that has a government that is a member of the United Nations system”, he said.
Dialogue with opponents
The foreign minister assured that the Venezuelan authorities are willing to maintain a dialogue with all opponents.
“Dialogue is permanent, with every sector of the opposition, with all Venezuelans in general, because we are interested in mending everything within relations between all Venezuelans and for that we will always be calling all opponents, including those extremists, to join that route so all things within the country be mended”, he said.
The senior diplomat assured that Venezuela lives in a “permanent assembly” and the national government
“never stops talking to the opposition to convince them and invite them to this dynamic of peace, rescue, happiness, positive projection and move them away from that dissociated route of aggressiveness, of being abroad calling for foreign interference”.
The Foreign Minister stressed in this regard that “the National Government is committed to taking this radical opposition off a negative path and inviting it to a negotiating table”.
“We have already left behind that stage of the guarimba, of the discontent in the street, of the insistence of that adventurous, irresponsible opposition that goes to foreign countries to ask for interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela”.
“We should all be members of that group of friends”, he said, underlining that it is “a very important group” that “defends the most consensual document in the history of civilization” that speaks of peace, understanding, progress, cooperation.
Plasencia stressed that the group has “no hidden agenda”, on the contrary, its work is “very transparent”.
The group serves to defend the UN Charter that some actors have recently unilaterally been determined to violate, he said.
He recalled that the group, which already has 19 members, including China, Venezuela, Russia, Algeria, Iran, has already held meetings within the framework of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and within the framework of the celebration of the 60 anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade.
On November 8, when meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Plasencia proposed holding a meeting of the Group of Friends of the UN Charter in Moscow.
According to the foreign minister, it would be the first meeting of the Group held in a member country and not within the framework of a multilateral forum.
“I think that an invitation from the Russian government for this meeting to be held in this country will be well received, particularly by Venezuela”, said Plasencia.
The diplomat was convinced that other countries will also see it with interest.
Meeting between Putin and Maduro
Caracas is interested in having the presidents of Russia and Venezuela, Vladimir Putin and Nicolás Maduro, meet as soon as possible, the Foreign Minister declared.
“We are all very interested in that possibility. The visit of both President Nicolás Maduro to Russia and the visit of President Vladimir Putin to Venezuela”, he said.
Plasencia pointed out that “it is always good for Heads of State and government to meet each other but due to the pandemic” it is complicated.
“It is difficult for everyone, not only for President Putin or for President Nicolás Maduro. It is difficult for all presidents to find themselves outside their jurisdiction, their countries”, Plasencia stressed.
He stressed that President Maduro always has the desire to greet President Putin, be it in Moscow, be it in Venezuela, or in the framework of a multilateral meeting.
The FM stressed that a visit can be made at any time “in either direction”.
“President Putin is always invited by President Nicolás Maduro to visit Venezuela. There is a deep strategic alliance between our countries, a certain and perfect harmony”, highlighted Plasencia.
The last time the Russian president traveled to Venezuela was in 2010 and if he decides to travel to the country, his visit will be well received by the Venezuelan people, the foreign minister said.
Visit of the Chancellor of Russia
Plasencia assured that Venezuela anxiously awaits the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, to travel to the country.
«Lavrov, he can come to Venezuela, since I am waiting for him. The President of the Republic is waiting for you. We Venezuelans are waiting for it, “said Plasencia.
The Venezuelan minister expressed his joy that his counterpart had accepted the invitation to visit Venezuela and also made it public.
“The invitation does not have a deadline nor does it have a set date. It is an open invitation”, specified Plasencia.
Likewise, the FM highlighted the tight and quite committed schedule of his Russian counterpart but hopes that he can visit his country “before the end of the year”, since it is a good time to go and enjoy the “benefits of a less cold climate”.
“We also want him to accompany us for a while, beyond office work”, Plasencia stressed.
The minister wants Lavrov to know deep Venezuela and to have contact with Venezuelans in “another space than the government office”.