CARACAS - The United States has unleashed a campaign to discredit Venezuela and is using false information to do so, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said.
„The American empire has unleashed a campaign to discredit Venezuela and the Bolivarian revolution in order to prepare the ground for any action against our country,“ Maduro told the TV station Venezolana de Televisión.
„Because they cannot claim that Maduro possesses weapons of mass destruction, biological or chemical weapons, or that Venezuela is developing nuclear weapons, the United States is spreading false information that no one - especially the people of the United States - believes.“
„Venezuela is a peaceful country and has never threatened anyone,“ he stressed. He recalled the CIA's interventions in the internal affairs of Latin American countries, which led to the overthrow of legitimate governments, for example in Chile in 1973.
According to Maduro „national unity of military and politics“ guarantees the independence and defence of Venezuela. „Our [Latin] America will follow its own path led by Venezuela, the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of the Americas and the Bolivarian Revolution,“ he said.
Washington has accused Caracas of not doing enough to combat drug trafficking. Under this pretext, the United States has deployed a large force in the Caribbean - eight warships, one submarine and more than 16,000 troops. Since September, the US is said to have destroyed at least 20 ships and eliminated 76 people allegedly involved in drug trafficking from Venezuela.
According to the newspaper. The New York Times US President Donald Trump has instructed his team to halt attempts to diplomatically settle tensions with Venezuela and has authorized covert CIA operations in the country. However, Trump said on 31 October that he had no plans to carry out strikes on Venezuelan territory.
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