CHEGA leader André Ventura has gone beyond the initial criticisms of the United States’ apparent ‘take-over’ of Venezuela – and exfiltration of its president – to say that he believes María Corina Machado, the figurehead of the Venezuelan opposition and winner of last year’s Nobel Peace prize, should be the transitional leader of Venezuela.
Talking in Silves yesterday, Ventura’s stand is ‘refreshing’ given the opinion of U.S. President Donald Trump (that Ms Machado ‘doesn’t have the respect’ in Venezuela that a leader needs) – and the fact that the Americans have seemingly left the south American country’s dictatorial regime in place, just under its vice-president (nominated by Nicolás Maduro who is now languishing in an American jail).
André Ventura also told reporters that he wants to see an “end with dictators in the whole world”.
As reports underscore, the presidential candidate’s position is very different to that of Donald Trump in this regard: Mr Ventura is advocating for “just, free and democratic elections” in Venezuela – not the “puppets that the large part of the left and centre-left of Europe have been supporting” – albeit he has been the only presidential candidate to applaud the U.S. actions in taking Nicolás Maduro ‘out of the equation’.
And while Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has quipped that the U.S. action shows it knows what to do with dictators, Ventura has rejected any kind of comparisons that could be made regarding the situation in Ukraine, contending that the latter is “an absolutely illegal invasion” of a country under a democratically-elected president, while the U.S. assault on Caracas was an operation “to remove someone who is a dictator and a blood-thirsty tyrant”.
Elsewhere, the other ‘leading’ presidential candidates have all been expounding on how they feel about the events of the weekend. Every one has expressed outrage at the United States’ perceived flouting of international law – and some (of the further left) have labelled the Portuguese government’s efforts of diplomacy “shameful”.
“I think it is shameful for our country that the Portuguese government has not uttered a word of condemnation in the face of such a brutal and gross violation of international law,” said PCP communists’ António Filipe, after meeting with supporters in Barreiro, considering the minister of foreign affairs’ position (expressed yesterday) on a new Venezuelan government as “intolerably arrogant”.
The reality remains, however, that the wider world appears to be ‘trying to understand’ what is happening, and what the United States’ imagines will happen next. In this context, the fact that outgoing president Marcelo called a Council of State for Friday, January 9 (ostensibly to discuss the situation in Ukraine) is being seen as nothing short of fortuitous: the president and his advisors will now be using the occasion to discuss the possible European reactions (and consequences) of the Americans’ attack on Caracas.
In the meantime, the ‘other’ anti-systemic candidate for the presidency, former Naval Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, has stressed that “We have to wait, we have to be patient, we must not rush into anything. The United States is our ally. We are European and Atlantic. (…) And therefore, we have to be careful. We also have to show some sense of statehood.”
Speaking on the ‘first day’ of the official presidential campaign, which runs until the end of next week (the elections falling on Sunday January 18), Gouveia e Melo also stressed that “no country can control another (…) colonies no longer exist”.
Sources: Lusa/ SIC Notícias
