Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, gave more details this Wednesday in a press conference with national and international media about a coup d’etat planned against him, orchestrated from the White House to assassinate him and install in the country a “Council of Transitory Government”. He denounced that John Bolton, National Security Advisor in the Trump administration, was designated the chief of Plan Venezuela, who acts with the complicity of Colombia to carry-out this coup d’etat.
“I am coming here again to denounce the plot that is being prepared from the White House to violate Venezuelan democracy, to assassinate me and to impose a dictatorial government in Venezuela,” Maduro denounced.
“Mr. John Bolton has been designated again, as chief of the plot to fill Venezuela with violence and to look for a foreign military intervention, a coup d’etat to assassinate President Maduro and impose what they call ‘council of transitory government’/ I am saying this to expose their plans”.
John Bolton is a US diplomat that has been part of various Republican presidential administrations and currently is the National Security Advisor in the administration of Donald Trump. He is involved in a wide variety of research centers and institutes of conservative politicians, including the questioned National Rifle Association (NRA), the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), Institute of East-West Dynamics and the Council for National Policy (CNP), some of these organizations of “think tanks”, thought generators, and of right-wing intellectuals.
Bolton is considered a “war falcon” neoconservative of the extreme right. He has been supportive of “regime changes” in countries like Iran and North Korea and has emphatically solicited to end deals with Iran around nuclear arms. He supported the invasion in Iraq and until today stands behind the position that he had in that moment. He also supported military actions in Syria, Libya and Iran.
Maduro denounced that Bolton alleged that “he can decide on his own everything that has to be decided and in the case of Venezuela, he says that he will overthrow the government of Venezuela”. Maduro points out that “he has converted Colombia into the base of operations of these crazed plans that are full of hate, but he should know that he will be defeated!”.
“The denouncements are very serious. The information comes from different sources and it checks out,” cited Maduro. “If in the United States there was really justice, the Congress should investigate the bottom of this, as well as the press; they have ways and sources to confirm all of this. I am not speaking just to speak, and I am not going to speak after things happen. I am speaking before, to alert the country and tell them that we are standing up, we will not turn back, we will not kneel, we will not give up, we will fight and we are going to guarantee peace and democracy to Venezuela.”
Maduro indicated that he has no doubt that the plan also includes psychological war to scare Venezuelans, but he also has infinite faith in the serenity and the morale of the Venezuelan people and the National Bolivarian Armed Forces. “If on April 11, 12 and 13 of 2002 the people in counter attack defeated the coup that was already accomplished, they can not imagine of what we are capable of doing today, now that we are better prepared, organized and with more commitment than ever! They have no idea what we are capable of doing!”.
More than 700 paramilitaries train in Colombia
The Venezuelan President signaled that Bolton had spoken of “a plan that was already in development to assassinate me” and that there are various places where mercenary and paramilitary forces are training, including Colombia.
“The government of Colombia of Iván Duque, that does not want diplomatic relationships, policies, nor communication with the legitimate government of Venezuela, is accomplice of the plan of John Bolton to bring violence to our country, and that is how I am putting it. And our National Bolivarian Armed Force has to be even more prepared to guarantee the stability, integrity and the peace of the country, in the face of any threat”.
Maduro denounced that in the Tona municipality, in North Santander, Colombia, they are training a paramilitary group called “the G-8” or the “gochos” [g-eight vocalized in Spanish]. He noted that there are 734 mercenaries including Colombians and Venezuelans, to in any moment carry out actions of false positives and false flag, simulate “attacks as if they were Venezuelan forces against military units in the border and initiate a violent escalation that confuses public opinion and justifies any other action of military scale against Venezuela”.
Maduro pointed out that, if the Colombian government had good faith, it could investigate and arrest “in less than an hour” the mercenaries that are training in this Colombian municipality.
The Venezuelan President also denounced the air base of Tolemaida in Colombia, one of the 7 bases that the US maintains in said country, where they could be training another group of mercenaries to attack Venezuela.
From the Eglin base of the United States
He also denounced that an important group of commando forces are training in US territory, in the Eglin Air Force Base, located in Florida, 5 kilometers Southeast of Valparaiso in Okaloosa country. There “They are training groups of special forces for a surgical aggression against Venezuelan air and military bases. Their objective is to disembark, take and neutralize the air base Libertador de Palo Negro, the Naval base of Puerto Cabello and the air base of Barcelona.
He indicates that also from the United States has increased the money for secret departures directed to bribes and breaking Venezuelan officials, so that they go against the Venezuelan government. “They have increased the number from 40 million to 120 million dollars”.He assures that if this is investigated seriously, they would find the hands of John Bolton all over these resources.
Maduro also denounced that the retired colonel from the National Bolivarian Guard, Oswaldo Valentín García Palomo, is making calls from Colombia offering big sums of money to Venezuelan officials and their families, who have made the respective denouncement to their superiors.
Brazil
He pointed out that Bolton traveled to Brazil last week and that “he assigned missions for military provocations in the South of Venezuela, in the border with Brazil”. He denounced that the entering government of Jair Bolsonaro is cooperating broadly: “One is crazier than the other”.
Maduro also reminded that Hamilton Mourao, the new vice-president of Brazil that accompanies Jair Bolsonaro, assured before the Ansa agency that soon “there will be a coup d’etat in Venezuela” and that, when it is executed, the Brazilian troops will act in Venezuela as “peace troops” sent by the United Nations.
“Declare what he has declared is crazy,” President Maduro pointed out. “To say that the Brazilian military force will enter Venezuela is crazy. What do you all think? That this land does not have people who will be offended/hurt?, that it does not have people to defend it? That it does not have people and it does not have an armed force? They should not make any mistakes, because we are going to give them a lesson that they will not forget for a thousand years! We will give them a lesson of dignity and of force to the crazies of the ultra-right, whether they be from Brazil, from Colombia, or wherever they are from!” he exclaimed.
“I imagine that this cowardly crazy will come to confront the troops,” said Maduro about Mourao. “Between Brazil and Venezuela, there will be peace and cooperation, more than what you all think”. He highlighted that the people of Brazil and even high officials of this country have manifested that they will not partake in these plans.
The President of Venezuela indicated that Venezuela will not go back to the 19th and 20th centuries, to the times of colonialism or of neocolonialism, trying to make Venezuela surrender. “We will not kneel. We will not surrender, not today or ever, the North American empire and the White House should know this!”.
Dialogue with Trump
He reiterated his invitations to dialogue and reiterated his invitation to the head of state of the United States Donald Trump. “The only requirement is respect; the rest, we can speak about what you want, where you want and when you want,” he stated. He called on Trump to turn the page from conflict and permanent conspiracy, and “hopefully someday we can have relationships of respect” with the people of the United States.
Lima Group
When asked about the actions of the Lima Group whose members have threatened to break diplomatic relationships, Maduro responded: “The governments, can do what they like. If they want to leave Venezuela with their ambassadors, let them all go! Now! They can all go! Venezuela is not going to blackmail anyone. Whoever wants to leave with their ambassador, has the airport there in Maiquetía! And those who stay, will do so respecting Venezuela”. He indicated that the country has enough friends in the world, including big powers that “respect us, support us and love us”.
He also responded to the complains of the US government because of the visit of planes of the Russian Air Force for joint exercises with Venezuela. “The United States, that has more than 700 military bases in the world and the biggest military spending in the world, with 40 million of poor people, comes to tell us (President Putin and myself) that we are misspending money because we have military cooperation. This is called immorality!”.
The President expressed that he will be President until at least January 10, 2025 and that he will fulfill the expectations of the consensus of the Venezuelan revolutionary forces and of the people.