“Venezuela is a free and sovereign nation, we are a brave people who has known how to defeat imperial powers, it has marked our history, it is not a speech, these are facts of our history, and we are forced to look to the past to build a future for the welfare of our people”.
The statement was made by the Chancellor of the Republic, Delcy Rodríguez, in her speech at the 46th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), held in the Dominican Republic.
In a direct reference to her predecessor taking the floor, the United States’s Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, she categorically affirmed that “the internal affairs of Venezuela are managed by the Venezuelans.”
Responding to allegations about the existence of political prisoners in the country, Rodriguez said that in Venezuela there are no prisoners of conscience, and proof of this is the law of self-forgiveness passed by the National Assembly in which they pardon crimes such as terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking, perpetrated by the right wing in their quest to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro.
She recalled that while the United States calls for the release of so-called political prisoners, it has subjected to death in life to the Puerto Rican independence leader, Oscar Lopez Rivera, who has spent over 33 years held in a US prison.
AHORA:
