On April 1st 2019, Dr. Mounir Zahran, Chairman of the council, and Dr. Ezzat Saad, Director of the council, received Mr.Wilmer Omar Barentus, Ambassador of Venezuela to Cairo, aiming at highlighting the current developments over the Venezuelan political Arena as well as the country’s political future.
The Venezuelan Ambassador commenced the meeting by expressing his welcome to the convening of this meeting to update the Council on the ongoing developments in his country, aiming at delivering the voice of his country to the Egyptian institutions, particularly as Egypt has always been characterized by its honorable, unwavering, and supportive stances towards the choices of the Venezuelan People; respecting their free independent will, and categorically rejecting any foreign interference in the country’s domestic affairs.
Thereupon, Ambassador Barentus reviewed his country’s history along with periods of suffering from dictatorship, colonialism, political and economic instability till President Hugo Chavez took power, under the free will of the people, in 1999, and the wave of political and economic changes that coincided with amendments to the country’s constitution, which had been witnessed by his country during his reign. In spite of the state of democracy that had been experienced by the country, conspiracies and blockade continued to be practiced by the United States (USA) against Venezuela through supporting Venezuelan right wing opposition, aiming at creating chaos in the country. This issue became clearly prominent since 2013, that is to say, after the death of President Chavez, especially that the opposition had been seeking termination of the reign of Chavez and commencement of a new intellectual phase in the country’s history. This unrest and demands for early presidential elections continued, and indeed a date had been set for holding the elections in May 2018 in which 16 opposition parties had participated. President Nicolas Maduro won these elections with a majority of 6 million votes out of a total of 10 million participating votes, but the opposition did not accept the results. Then comes out the Chief of the Venezuelan Parliament, Juan Guaido, proclaiming himself interim president of the country in a flagrant violation of all constitutional laws of the country; the astonishing fact with respect to this issue is that states calling for respect of laws and regulations were the First to violate this by recognizing the legitimacy of Mr. Guaido as President of the country, and have even imposed sanctions on the country and withheld billions of Dollars; even threatening a possible military intervention in Venezuela, by the United States (USA).
He concluded his speech by emphasizing the awareness of the Venezuelan People of the gravity of situations, and their gathering around their leadership to affirm their right to the freedom of their choice; calling for an international uprising against Western powers, at their head being the United States of America (USA) that continues to threaten the unity and stability of the country and behaves as if it were dominating the world.
