Vice President Rodríguez Highlights Venezuela’s Capacity to Face Economic Warfare

Orinoco Tribune, September 16, 2024 — 

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez highlighted the historical capacity of the Venezuelan state in the face of the economic warfare suffered in recent years due to the imposition of illegal sanctions by the United States government.

During an interview on the television program Conversando con Correa (Talking with Correa), hosted by former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, Vice President Rodríguez said that Venezuela is setting a very important precedent in economic matters by registering one of the highest growth rates in Latin America.

“[It is] A real milestone to recover its economy, showing a capacity for resilience that has not been seen in any country in the region or the world. And this has been evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, where the economic crisis was global,” she said.

In this regard, Rodriguez said, “Venezuela is standing up, setting an example and showing that it is possible to be independent” from Washington’s authority. “It is possible to preserve the sovereignty of a country with dignity and historical morality,” she added.

Rodríguez also said that the Venezuelan government has sought ways to overcome difficulties and defend the Bolivarian model created by Commander Hugo Chávez. “A model of public healthcare, public education, and food that was commendable and received international recognition. It was a successful model that is contrary to the empire.”

Migration and smear campaign against Venezuela 

“Venezuela has always been a country receptive of migrants from sister nations and has been the victim of a well-articulated plan to push for economic migration in Venezuela,” Vice President Rodríguez stated.

Rodríguez explained that the US economic blockade created conditions of great hardship in Venezuela, a product of the campaigns orchestrated by the enemies of the homeland both internationally and within the country through a far-right opposition that only seeks destabilization by generating a climate of violence and chaos.

She explained that this is part of a criminal plan with several phases. The first phase was aimed at extracting Venezuelan talent in public services, industry, oil, and especially in the electric company. The exodus of doctors from Venezuela and then came to a final stage that was a more massive migration of the working class sectors… a plan that was accompanied by attacks on the electrical system.”

Rodríguez also said that all of this aimed at the declaration of a humanitarian crisis by the far right, which the United States could use as a pretext to invade Venezuela.

It is worth noting that in December, Venezuela will complete 10 years under US blockade. Vice President Rodríguez recalled that in December 2014, the US Congress approved that disastrous law that constructed and laid the groundwork for Obama’s executive order in 2015.

Cruelty against the homeland of Simón Bolívar

The Venezuelan vice president said that the persecution against Venezuela is due to the fact that it has a large reserve of natural resources, “it has 5.48 times more oil reserves than the US.”

Making history in 1849 with the “fraudulent award that sought to take the Essequibo territory from Venezuela” highlights the interest of the empire in a “territory very rich in oil, gas, gold, minerals, and biodiversity. In 1899, the US and the United Kingdom agreed “to take and snatch that territory from Venezuela.”

For this reason, Rodríguez, who is now also minister of petroleum, said that starting in 2024, “US transnationals, mainly Exxon Mobil, are stealing Venezuela’s oil and gas from a territory that is under a territorial dispute.”

New World under construction

Rodríguez called on the peoples of the world to observe the scenario being created. “That is why we must pay attention to what is happening, because their assets are in danger, as is their money. They should not suffer the same fate as is happening in Venezuela with the theft of their assets and their wealth. That is why we must be careful with what is happening in the West.”

“There is a world beyond them, beyond their borders. There is a world that wants to change. There is a world in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East that wants a world where we all participate as an independent community of sovereign nations,” she added.