Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza spoke at the General Assembly of the United Nations today on the unfolding political situation in the country, and called for the organization’s members to refrain from meddling in Venezuelan affairs.
During his speech, Arreaza also called on the United Nations to not recognize the diplomatic staff that interim president Juan Guaido is appointing around the world, and instead continue to recognize those appointed by Maduro.
Arreaza also said that the United Nations should not lend itself to be “a tool to intervene in the internal affairs of another state”.
As Arreaza rose to speak, the representatives from several country got up and left the chamber. These included representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, and Peru.
Tachira State Deputy Claims ELN Threatening Him, Opposition Politicians
National Assembly deputy for Tachira state Franklyn Duarte shared a set of images on his Twitter account yesterday allegedly showing graffiti and threatening letters placed at his home and that of other opposition politicians in the state.
According to the Duarte, the culprits are members of the Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (National Liberation Army, ELN), a Colombian guerilla group that is active in Venezuela.
In a series of tweets, Duarte claimed that his home–which is located in the Rubio municipality of Tachira–was targeted, as were the homes of other opposition politicians.
Below, the tweets:
https://twitter.com/FranklynDuarte_/status/112100890550781132
https://twitter.com/FranklynDuarte_/status/1121016842578010112
https://twitter.com/FranklynDuarte_/status/1121028599778291715
Below, a close-up image of the pamphlet Duarte claims to have received. Part of the pamphlet reads:
https://twitter.com/FranklynDuarte_/status/1121028897758429185
NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY
“GUSTAVO VILLAMIZAR FRONT”
RUBIO-TACHIRA
The central command of the GUSTAVO VILLAMIZAR FRONT belonging to the NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY (ELN) in Tachira state wants to alert every ally of the Revolution and the Homeland of Bolivar and Chavez so that they will remain vigilant and stand firm against the shameless threats from the North American empire and its Colombian and Brazilian allies through their presidents, [who are] lackeys of the Yankee empire (…) WE DECLARE A GROUP OF TRAITORS [AND] TRAITORS TO BE POLITICAL OBJECTS AND PUBLIC ENEMIES OF THE REVOLUTION [BECAUSE] THEY ARE AN OBSTACLE of the PROPER PERFORMANCE OF THE SOCIAL POLICIES OF OUR COMMANDER IN CHIEF AND WORKER PRESIDENT NICOLAS MADURO MOROs [sic].
The letter then goes on to name Duarte as part of this group of “traitors [and] turncoats”, as well as eleven other individuals.
Ramirez Launches Blog, Says Chavez Would “Rebel” Against Maduro
Former PDVSA chief and longtime Chavez ally Rafael Ramirez took yet another state to position himself as a sensible option to Maduro for the office of President of Venezuela by launching a blog. Ramirez described the blog in the following way:
It’s a space for debating ideas and organizing, where we don’t do politics with capital P, and where we don’t allow insults and disqualifications as discursive arguments. It’s a place where we can all fit in: youth, patriots, chavistas, opposition [supporters], the elderly, migrants. The entire country is invited to participate, and is welcomed.
The blog’s home page currently has a set of images of Ramirez accompanied by quotes. One of these images appears below:
Ramirez was the head of the state-owned PDVSA oil firm from 2002 to 2014. During that time, Ramirez oversaw the pilfering of billions of dollars worth of oil revenues. In 2016, the National Assembly personally implicated Ramirez in the embezzlement of at least $11 billion dollars from PDVSA.
After falling out of favour with Maduro in late 2017, Ramirez became a vocal critic of the regime.
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