“We have faced guarimbas (street riots); We have faced coups d’état; We have faced sabotage against the oil company; we have faced political violence of all kinds; We have faced attacks to the national electrical system and as if it were not enough we have faced a decree of the most powerful empire of the humanity that declares us as an extraordinary and unusual threat; we have faced it, we have conquered and we will continue conquering”. With this affirmation, the Minister for Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, responded to the attack registered on Saturday against the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro.
Padrino, who was with the Head of State at the time of the terrorist act, described the fact as “nefarious, poor and cowardly”, reiterating that they have not been able, nor could they defeat the Government and the revolutionary people.
This Sunday, in the company of the High Military Command, from the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, in Fort Tiuna, Caracas, he pointed out that despite the innumerable calls for peace, dialogue and agreement made by the national chief executive, the oligarchy opts for continue moving through the path of criminality and barbarism.
“How much it has costed us, for these factors of the murderous and cowardly right wing oligarchy to understand that the path we all Venezuelans have taken has been that of peace, of the constitution, of democracy, voting and elections. Until when (will they maintain) such a childish behavior?” he exclaimed, while reiterating that “We Venezuelans reject with absolute determination any act of violence and even more to do politics through violence”.
He continued by pointing out that this action accounts for the moral degradation of the Venezuelan right wing, since “a dangerous and serious extreme has been touched” by attacking the life of the President of the Republic in an act where were also present the representatives of the Public Powers and the Military High Command: “That attack was going to decapitate an entire State”.
He called for the national union of the Venezuelan people, urging them to assume this new aggression with “resilience and spiritual strength”. “I call on the people to continue our daily life, our institutional work, to contribute to the program of recovery, growth and economic prosperity announced by President Maduro”.
Padrino concluded his speech by noting that the security agencies are active to repel future actions of this type and announced that a group of people linked to this terrorist action have been arrested.
