FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
A senior Venezuelan official said Sunday that the country's government will remain united behind President Nicolas Maduro, whose capture by the United States has caused deep uncertainty about what lies ahead for the oil-rich South American nation.
Maduro is in a New York detention center awaiting a court appearance on Monday on drug charges after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered his removal and said the U.S. would take control of Venezuela. But in Caracas, senior officials in Maduro's government, who have called the detention of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores a kidnapping, were still in charge.
"The unity of the revolutionary force is more than guaranteed, and here there is only one president, whose name is Nicolas Maduro Moros. No one should fall prey to the enemy's provocations," Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said in an audio shared by the ruling socialist party PSUV on Sunday, as he called for calm.
Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who also serves as oil minister, has taken over as interim leader with the blessing of Venezuela's supreme court, although she has said Maduro remains president.
Because of her connections to the private sector and deep knowledge of oil, the country's main source of income, Rodriguez has long been considered the most pragmatic member of Maduro's inner circle, but she has publicly contradicted Trump in his claims that she is willing to cooperate with the US.
The Venezuelan government has said for months that Trump's pressure campaign is an attempt to seize control of the country's vast natural resources, especially its oil, and officials have taken great note of Trump's comments on the subject on Saturday, when he said major American oil companies would enter the country.
"We are outraged because in the end everything was revealed that they only want our oil," added Cabello, who has close ties to the military.
Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA is asking some of its joint ventures to reduce crude oil production by shutting down oil fields or groups of wells due to an export paralysis, three sources close to the decision told Reuters.
Oil exports from the OPEC country have remained halted since the US last month announced a blockade of sanctioned tankers moving in and out of Venezuelan waters and the seizure of two oil cargoes.
Once one of the most prosperous countries in Latin America, Venezuela's economy has fallen further under Maduro, sending about one in five Venezuelans abroad in one of the world's largest exodus.
Lini një Përgjigje