Submitted by Stolenfromreddit in Socialism (edited )
I am Nicolás Maduro, Constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and I would like to send a message to the people of the United States to alert them of the psychological media war campaign that is developing in the international media - especially in the United States media - against Venezuela. A campaign was prepared to justify a coup d’état in Venezuela that has been prepared, financed, and supported actively by the Donald Trump administration. The brutal campaign has accelerated with the promotion of false and manipulated images. I tell you from the heart, don’t believe everything that you see in the television and in the media.
Because they cannot invent that we have weapons of mass destruction to invade us, they try to invent a new image or news story every day to justify an intervention in our country. I am making a call to conscience and solidarity, and an awakening to the truth. We will not allow a Vietnam in Latin America. If the US tries to invade us, there will be a worse Vietnam than anyone can imagine. We will not allow violence, we are a peaceful people, proud of our history, proud of our leaders Simón Bolívar and Hugo Chávez. We are a people who have a solid democracy. We are a people who are tending to our problems, which arise every day like they arise in any society. We are a people that deserve respect.
In our country lies the certified largest oil reserve in the world, and whoever leads the US empire wants to put their hands on our oil, like they did in Iraq and Libya. It belongs to us. We are in the process of certifying what is to be the biggest gold reserve in the world. We are certified with the fourth largest natural gas reserve in the world. We are a country with massive energy resources and other natural resources. This is the real truth behind the incessant attack against Venezuela.
We want an awakening in conscience and solidarity in the United States, and to stop president Donald Trump and other extremists surrounding him – Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, the CIA, Mike Pence – from imposing their lies onto Venezuela, to stop the coup d'état that they support, and to support the Venezuelan people in the struggle for their democracy. I have a lot of faith in you, citizen of the United States.
Here in Venezuela you have a brother. I am an admirer of the history of the United States, and I know it very well. I have driven personally around Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and Washington. I know the United States deeply from below, and I would like to have respectful, close, and cooperative relations with all of the United States. The United States is much bigger than Donald Trump, much bigger, and I want to have good relations to resolve our problems. Let’s go the way of diplomacy, of peace. I am asking for respect for Venezuela, and I ask for the the support of the people of the United States so that there isn’t a new Vietnam, and much less so in Nuestra América. I ask for peace and respect, and I am sure we will go down the historic path because we are on the correct path and place of history.
Thank you very much.