What follows is a statement from the vice President of Venezuela, Dulcy Rodriguez on the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. Not unlike the violent capture and abduction of President Manuel Noriega of Panama in 1989 on the orders of then U.S. President George H.W. Bush in clear violation of the U.N. Charter, Article 2.4 which reads: “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” The mesage of the Monroe Doctrine is clear. The message of the reactionary forces is also clear. Any President of any state in Latin America that disagrees with the United States and its foreign policy will be forcefully removed. This imperialist, neoliberal doctrine must be done away with. The constitution of the United States must be enforced.

LTI is in full solidarity with the Venezuelan people!

Joseph F. Hancock, Editor

Abdel Honorio García, Assistant Editor & Treasurer

OFFICIAL VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT PRESS RELEASE

“In the face of this brutal situation and this brutal attack, we do not know the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro and the First Lady, Cilia Flores. We demand from the government of President Donald Trump immediate proof of life of President Maduro and of the First Lady.

President Maduro had already been very clear and had warned the Venezuelan people that an aggression of this nature, driven by the desperation of the United States’ energy voracity, could occur. And the first thing President Maduro told the people of Venezuela was: People to the streets. Militia activated. Activated. All plans. He gave very clear orders to the Bolivarian National Armed Force so that, in perfect military, popular, and police unity, all plans for the comprehensive defense of the Nation would be activated, and they are thus activated with the decree that was signed by President Nicolás Maduro, decreeing the external state of emergency.

We demand respect for international law. We condemn this brutal, savage form of aggression against our people, which has claimed the lives of military personnel who have become martyrs of our homeland, and which has claimed the lives of innocent Venezuelan civilians at different points of the attacks, both in the capital city and in the states of Aragua, Miranda, and the state of La Guaira.

So the call is very clear. The instructions of President Maduro have been given. The instructions of President Maduro are to immediately activate—and this is known by the Minister of Defense, G/J Padrino López; it is known by our Bolivarian National Armed Force; it is known by the Venezuelan people organized in the militia; and it is also known by our citizen security bodies—that in perfect police, military, and popular unity, we go out to defend our homeland.

No one is going to violate the historical legacy of our Liberating Father Simón Bolívar. The people of Venezuela, in perfect national unity, must activate to defend their natural resources, but must also activate to defend the most sacred thing a homeland can have: its right to independence, its right to the future, its right to have a free homeland without any kind of external tutelage, without being turned into anyone’s colony. We will never be slaves. We are sons and daughters of Bolívar, and once again we demand—and these are my final words—

We demand immediate proof of life of President Nicolás Maduro and proof of life of the First Lady, the first combatant, Cilia Flores. This is a very clear message for our homeland; it is very, very clear for our people. The President had already envisioned it this way because he knew what they are capable of when crossing these red lines, what they are capable of in threatening the territorial integrity of an independent and free country, of threatening the peace and tranquility of our people. And it is in all of us, in every one of us. And this is the call I make for perfect national unity. All the living forces of Venezuelan society must activate to guarantee Venezuela’s independence. Let no foreign government presume to give orders to Venezuela; let no external government do so.”