Venezuela’s Maduro rejects US interventionism in UN speech
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has rejected US interventionism in the Latin American country, saying Washington opposes Venezuelan independence and determined to stop it at all costs.
Speaking at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Maduro also accused the United States and its allies of trying to assassinate him to end Venezuela’s “socialist revolution” and seize the country’s vast oil and mineral wealth.
US President Donald Trump had said in his own address to the Assembly a day earlier that a military coup could topple the Maduro government, also describing the Venezuelan government as “a repressive regime responsible for a human tragedy.”
Maduro also said the US “wants to continue giving orders to the world as though the world were its own property.”
“From this very rostrum, a threat was issued yesterday to governments of the world that orders should be obeyed and the US policy should be followed or else those countries would suffer from the consequences,” Maduro added.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration imposed financial sanctions on four members of Maduro’s inner circle, including his wife and Venezuela’s vice president, over allegations of corruption.
The Venezuelan president condemned the “illegal unilateral sanctions.”
He also said the US was using its currency to weaken Venezuelan economy.
“Today, the leader of the US announced new actions against our country. The use of the domination of the exchange rate is illegal from the perspective of international law,” Maduro said.
The Venezuelan leader also referred to the assassination attempt against him in August said perpetrators had had links to US allies.
Maduro said the attempt had been “the most serious attack our country has seen in its political history because of its implications,” adding that, “They wanted to decapitate the entire high command.”
Maduro said 28 people had been convicted of the “terrorist plot,” inviting the United Nations — and even the FBI — to investigate the assassination attempt “and discover the truth.”
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