Maduro calls it: Oil, gold & other riches behind Trump's Venezuela crusade

RT
Tue, 05 Feb 2019 17:14 UTC

© Getty Images/Eric Vandeville/Gamma-Rapho

Gold in Venezuela in 1992.

Venezuela's natural reserves, such as oil, gas, and gold, encourage the US to seek regime change there, President Maduro told RT, saying he won't be remembered as a leader who showed weakness and ignorance to his people.

"What is Donald Trump's casus belli against Venezuela? The casus belli is the oil of Venezuela, the riches of Venezuela, its gold, gas, iron, diamonds, other material riches," Maduro said in an exclusive interview with RT Spanish. The remarks come as Western nations pile overwhelming pressure on the Latin American country.

Maduro, who is widely seen as the successor to the cause of late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, said it doesn't matter how he will go down in history.

What does matter, he said, is that he doesn't want to be a "traitor" and a "weak person," bowing down to Washington.

Hugo Chavez and Nicolás Maduro

Turmoil in Venezuela escalated on the heels of economic hardships which saw the country suffer from galloping inflation, skyrocketing prices and low living standards. Yet, Maduro believes his government has a solution to those troubles.

Admitting that "hyperinflation caused tremendous damage to us," he suggested that the resources "kidnapped by the world" be freed for a national recovery. Aside from that, the government will work on keeping prices as low as possible and will stabilize the national currency rate.

Comment: Venezuela inflation tops 1.3 million percent in November

US sanctions also did their job, Maduro said. He labelled Washington's restrictions against state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) and its US subsidiary Citgo illegal, saying Caracas will respond. "What they have done has no name, it has never been done against any country," stated Maduro.

Comment: Lavrov: 'Cynical' US sanctions meant to confiscate Venezuela's assets

CIA World Factbook for 2017 says Venezuela has the world's biggest proven crude oil reserves, surpassing those of Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran and Iraq. During the crisis, Venezuelan officials suggested that oil is behind US attempt to replace Maduro with someone friendlier to Washington.

As Bush-era arch-hawk John Bolton put it, the US had "a lot at stake" in Venezuela's affairs. "It will make a big difference to the United States economically if we could have American oil companies invest in and produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela," he told Fox Business host Trish Regan.

Comment: Bolton admits US interest in Venezuela's 'oil capabilities' as 'good for business'

The US has steadily toughened sanctions on Venezuela in recent years in an effort to weaken the government and destabilize economy. Some international observers believe the sanctions and economic war hit Venezuela's people in the first place, contributing to the lack of medicine, malnutrition and mortality.

Comment: Maduro defies US pressure on Venezuela:

"I use every media outlet to urge the entire world - heads of state, heads of government, world leaders, social movements and the international community - to denounce and stop Donald Trump's insane actions against Venezuela. He threatened us with a military intervention, but Venezuela has not surrendered, and never will," he told RT.

He added that as the world becomes "increasingly sensible and conscious," "aversion" towards the US president grows.

Maduro said that the Venezuelan people were prepared to defend their "sacred" land from an US military invasion, but emphasized that he "prayed to God" that such a conflict will never occur. Trump's "military aggression" must be rejected so that "peace prevails."

He warned in an earlier interview that Trump would be responsible for a bloody conflict that would mirror the war in Vietnam if he gets militarily involved in Venezuela.

In late January, speaker of the opposition-dominated National Assembly, Juan Guaido, declared himself the interim president of Venezuela - a self-appointment which Washington quickly recognized as legitimate. Several European states have since followed suit, but Guaido still lacks a bloc-wide endorsement, which was opposed by Italy.

Caracas has denounced the decision by Germany, the UK, France, Spain, and several other EU states to recognize Guaido's claim to the presidency. The Venezuelan government said that it would have to "revise relations" with the bloc members that have thrown their support behind the opposition leader.

Moscow criticized the said countries for engaging in "direct interference" in Venezuela's internal affairs. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Monday that the move was tantamount to "trying to legitimize an attempt to usurp power."