Venezuela defies Trump and calls for popular unity against US offensive

Challenging the White House, the Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, stated this Saturday (3) that the Venezuelan State remains fully functioning after the military offensive launched by the United States, which, according to her, aimed to change the regime and control the country’s energy, mineral and natural resources.

“Here is the highest command of the Venezuelan State: the high military command, the high command of the State, the high command of the Council of Vice Presidents. All the political factors of Venezuela’s National Power are brought together”, said the vice president. “The entire National Power of Venezuela is activated to ratify what we are by inheritance as sons and daughters of Simón Bolívar: the defense of our national independence, our sovereignty and our territorial integrity.”

The statement was made during a meeting of the National Defense Council, at the Miraflores Palace, in the capital Caracas. At the time, Rodríguez stated that the North American offensive “flagrantly violates articles 1 and 2 of the United Nations Charter.”

These provisions of the UN Charter enshrine the principle of state sovereignty, prohibit the use of force in international relations and establish that conflicts between countries must be resolved by peaceful means or with authorization from the Security Council.

“We had already warned that an aggression was underway under false excuses, under false pretexts, and that the masks had fallen,” said the vice president.

“This aggression had only one objective: the change of regime in Venezuela, and that this change of regime would also allow the capture of our energy resources, our mineral resources and our natural resources”, denounced Rodríguez.

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Rodríguez called on the people for national unity and collective organization in defense of the country’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

“We call on the Venezuelan people to remain calm to face this stage together, in perfect national unity. May this police, military and popular fusion become one body, and may we emerge united to defend our sovereignty and our national independence”, said the vice president.

“In Venezuela there is a people who became active in the streets, responding to a call that had already been made by the President of the Republic. Militants in their workplaces, activated. The Bolivarian National Armed Force, activated and deployed throughout the national territory. Citizen security bodies, activated”, he continued.

Rodríguez evoked national symbols and Bolivarian tradition to support the institutional defense of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“The entire National Power of Venezuela is activated to ratify what we are by inheritance as sons and daughters of Simón Bolívar: the sacred duty to protect our national independence, our sovereignty and our territorial integrity,” he said.

Rodríguez’s statement comes after the United States bombed different regions of Venezuela in the early hours of this Saturday (3), hitting targets in Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.

The military offensive culminated in the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, who landed in the state of New York in the early evening of this Saturday in Brasília (late afternoon local time).

The Trump administration stated that it intends to “govern” Venezuela until a supposed political transition, indicating that United States companies will start exploring the country’s oil.

The offensive provoked immediate reactions in Brazil and abroad. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva classified the attack as a very serious affront to national sovereignty, while the PCdoB called for mobilization against the aggression.

Russia contacted the UN Security Council, and governments such as China expressed condemnation given the risk that the episode would set a precedent for military intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Venezuela formalized a complaint to the UN Security Council through a letter from its ambassador, Samuel Moncada, in which he classifies the United States offensive as a “colonial war” and a violation of the United Nations Charter.

In the document, Caracas maintains that the action threatens the country’s territorial integrity and political independence.

Colombia requested the convening of a Security Council meeting, with the support of Russia and China, to discuss the United States military offensive against Venezuela. Diplomats reported that the session is scheduled for next Monday.

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