The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, welcomed the authorities of the Venezuelan Electoral Branch for the approval of the five questions that will be asked in this consultation:
“We are going to a nationalist referendum, where we all fit, we are not thinking about Chavistas, anti-Chavistas, independents, no, we are thinking about all Venezuelan men and women who love our land and who are outraged with the pretensions of the empires of the world, the transnationals and of the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana to take away what is ours, land and sea that the Liberators of our America conquered under the command of Father Bolívar.”
The president recounted all the referendums that have been held in the country in the era of the Bolivarian revolution. He counted a total of seven events from 1999 until the amendment of the Constitution in 2009:
“It is the first time in the history of 500 years that this issue has been brought to public debate with a consultation of this magnitude,” said the president when referring to the call for the referendum to decide on the issue of Guayana Esequiba.
