The interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, confirmed this Wednesday, January 14th, that she had a “long, productive, and courteous” telephone conversation with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, while the constitutional president, Nicolás Maduro, remains kidnapped in New York since January 3rd.
Through a message posted on social media, Rodríguez emphasized that the dialogue took place within a “framework of mutual respect” and addressed a “bilateral work agenda for the benefit of our people, as well as pending issues” in the relationship between the two governments.
The president’s confirmation came hours after Donald Trump informed the press about a “great conversation” with the Venezuelan leader, without offering further details about its content. Trump, who has spoken positively about Rodríguez on several occasions, stated that she is “a terrific person” and that his administration has “worked very well” with her.
These exchanges are taking place in a context of high tension, generated by the military attack carried out by the United States on January 3rd against Venezuelan territory, in which at least 100 people were killed. This operation, under the pretext of fighting narcoterrorism, culminated in the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, who were illegally taken to the United States. Delcy Rodríguez assumed the interim presidency on January 5th, following Maduro’s kidnapping.
In the previous week, Trump had already told the media that he and his team got along “extremely well with the people running Venezuela,” and had not ruled out a meeting with the current leader. However, the US president has consistently declared his control over the destiny of the Bolivarian nation, even going so far as to publish an image in which he proclaimed himself “interim president” of Venezuela.
In response to such assertions, Delcy Rodríguez reiterated her authority and the legitimacy of the Venezuelan government on Monday, January 12th. “I’ve seen cartoons on Wikipedia about who’s in charge in Venezuela,” she said. “Well, here we have a government in power in Venezuela, here we have an interim president, and here we have a president being held hostage in the U.S.,” he declared, referring to the situation of Nicolás Maduro.
The U.S. military aggression that resulted in the kidnapping of President Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores directly affected Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira. The Venezuelan government described Washington’s actions as a “very serious military aggression” and warned that its objective is none other than “to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals, attempting to forcibly break the nation’s political independence.”
Currently, President Nicolás Maduro and the First Lady remain illegally detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. In his first hearing before the U.S. court, in the Southern District Court of New York, Maduro said he was a prisoner of war and pleaded not guilty to the charges levied against him.
IMAGE CREDIT: “We addressed a bilateral work agenda for the benefit of our people, as well as pending issues in the relationship between our governments,” the interim president of Venezuela stated via social media. Photo: Presidential Press Office
[ SOURCE: teleSUR ]
