Delcy Rodríguez denies the reports from the North American press
The vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, vehemently denied having negotiated with the United States the possible removal of President Nicolás Maduro from power, denying the reports in the North American press.
The Miami Herald newspaper reported on Thursday, without specifying the sources, that the Venezuelan vice president and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, had spoken to Washington about Maduro’s removal in exchange for remaining in power.
“FALSE!! Another media outlet contributing to the psychological war against the Venezuelan people. They have no ethics or morals and exclusively promote lies and rot”, wrote Delcy Rodríguez.
“The Bolivarian Revolution is based on a high political-military command united around the will of the people”, added the vice president, on the messaging platform Telegram.
The message included a photo of Rodríguez next to the head of state and the caption: “Together and united with President Maduro.”
The Miami Herald stated that Rodriguez made the proposal through mediators in Qatar, a country that brokered prisoner exchanges between the United States and Venezuela.
On Wednesday, another North American newspaper, the New York Times, had reported that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, authorized operations by the CIA, the civilian foreign intelligence agency, in Venezuela against the Government, including to “neutralize” Maduro.
Confronted with the news by journalists in the Oval Office of the White House, Trump did not deny it.
“That’s a ridiculous question to ask me. It’s not exactly a ridiculous question, but wouldn’t it be ridiculous of me to answer it?”, said the Republican.
On the same occasion, Trump stated that he is considering ground attacks by US forces on Venezuelan territory against drug traffickers.
“I don’t want to say anything more, but we are now considering ground attacks,” said the President, in response to a journalist’s question about the extent of military operations, which he claims are targeting drug trafficking cartels.
Washington accuses Maduro of leading a drug trafficking network and recently increased the reward for his capture to $50 million. Maduro denied any connection with drug trafficking.
Also on Wednesday, Maduro accused the United States of seeking regime change in Venezuela and accused the CIA of involvement in coups d’état in the region.
On Thursday, Venezuela’s permanent representative to the United Nations accused the United States of wanting to “impose a coup d’état” in his country and asked the Security Council to “investigate the murders they have perpetrated.”
“In this region, its dark history is already known, with processes of destabilization, sabotage, counter-insurgency, planning of coups d’état and murders”, said Samuel Moncada.
