Vice president Delcy Rodriguez appeared this afternoon on the Jose Vicente Hoy interview program, which airs on the Televen network. Rodriguez spoke at length on a number of issues, including her vision of the Bolivarian revolution.
Rodriguez said that she felt no hatred for the “executioners” who killed her father, Jose Antonio Rodriguez, a left-wing militant who was tortured to by the authorities for his activities in 1976. Rodriguez then went on to say that her and her family view their participation in the Bolivarian revolution as their own “personal revenge” for his killing.
Speaking of the political repression that took place during the Fourth Republic period (1958-1999), Rodriguez said:
[My mother is] happy to be part of the Bolivarian revolution because we know that this is our personal revenge for that dark period where many young people were murdered, tortured, disappeared. This was the political heritage of a Fourth Republic that was not committed to its people, where the elite governed…
Rodriguez was then asked if she felt hatred–presumably towards the political class of the Fourth Republic–given her “personal revenge” comment. She replied by saying:
No. Our mother taught us love above all else. We did not grow up with hatred. We are not hateful people (…) this is a profoundly human revolution, and hatred cannot be the engine of any revolution. On the contrary: it’s love.
Later in the interview, Rodriguez appeared to attempt to clarify her comments by explaining that what she meant by “personal revenge” was “building Bolivarian socialism” in Venezuela, as she claims that this is what her father would have wanted to do.
Maduro Stresses Importance of Military Loyalty to Him
Maduro precised over a ceremony today commemorating the 197th anniversary of the Battle of Carabobo, which Venezuelans widely consider to be the decisive engagement of the War of Independence against Spain.
During his speech, Maduro spoke on how important it is for the Venezuelan military to remain loyal to him at all times, and called on the men and women of the armed forces to always “keep up your guard” against “cries to treason”. Speaking to the nation’s military personnel, Maduro said:
Let no one let himself be tricked by the cries to treason from Bogota.
Colombia is high atop the regime’s list of enemies. Maduro and other regime officials will often blame Colombia for everything that is wrong in Venezuela, from food shortages to electrical blackouts.
Maduro also said that the Bolivarian revolution needed “a military power (…) that is loyal to your commander in chief”.
In the video below, Maduro claps enthusiastically as a group of tanks drives past his podium at the event:
The video below shows Maduro waving to soldiers as they march past him:
OAS Forwards Human Rights Abuses Report to ICC
The secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, announced through his Twitter account this morning that the organization had forwarded a May 29 report on human rights abuses in Venezuela to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Almagro made the announcement by saying:
With the support of several countries in the region and of the [Venezuelan National Assembly] we have sent the independent experts’ report on crimes against humanity in #Venezuela to the [ICC]. Truth, punishment for the guilty and justice are imperative.
The report was compiled by a panel of independent experts over a period of eight months, and found that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Maduro regime officials have committed crimes against humanity in their brutal repression of political dissent over the past five years.
EU Set to Impose More Sanctions on Regime Officials Tomorrow
The European Union (EU) are set to approve a new set of sanctions targeting Maduro regime officials as early as tomorrow. The news broke through Spain’s EFE, although it is not clear at the moment who the targets of the new sanctions are, or what the sanctions would look like.
Back in January, the EU sanctioned seven top Maduro regime officials, banning their travel into the region and freezing their assets there.
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