CARACAS, 15 October - Israel is waging a war of extermination against the Arab peoples, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared in a television programme entitled 'With Maduro Plus', broadcast by the Venezolana de Television channel, expressing solidarity with the peoples of Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.
"The international media insist that Israel is waging war against Hamas and Hezbollah. This is not true - it is Netanyahu's war of extermination against the people of Palestine, the Arab people in Lebanon, it is not even a war, it is genocide," He said Maduro.
Maduro strongly condemned Netanyahu's demand for the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers from southern Lebanon.
The peoples of Palestine and Lebanon "are victims of genocide, of Israel's policy of extermination", said Venezuela's foreign minister Yvan Gil Pintowho was on Maduro's show. He reported that on Monday, the first group of 44 Venezuelans who were in Lebanon arrived in Caracas from Syria on a Conviasa plane. Gil also noted that humanitarian aid had been delivered to Damascus for the people of Lebanon.
"Elon Musk has invested at least one billion dollars in a coup, in a fascist revolt, in violence against the electoral process in Venezuela," Maduro further stated. He noted that after the presidential elections on 28 July, the far right had tried to incite violence and destabilise the situation in the country.
"The U.S. government was behind this attempt, there is an ongoing conspiracy of 'North American empire'," He said. He recalled how Musk's social media accounts called for violence, arson and murder. The Venezuelan president reported that the businessman had instructed Maria Corina Machado, an opposition leader, to allocate funds to terrorist groups.
"Musk lost," Maduro said, stressing that "law, truth, sovereignty, order and peace have prevailed in Venezuela".
Presidential elections were held in Venezuela on 28 July. Maduro won after receiving 51.95 % votes. One of the opposition leaders, Maria Corina Machado, declared on election day that the opposing candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, and his campaign did not recognise his defeat in the election. The following day, riots and attacks by right-wing extremists against police and soldiers began in the capital and other cities of the country. Maduro accused the United States and Elon Musk of orchestrating the failed coup in Venezuela.
TASS/ gnews - RoZ