NGO support for Maduro

The Friends of Venezuela Solidarity Committee (Barbados) has publicly thrown its support behind Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro, who has been re-elected for a second successive term.

Despite the fact that 17 Latin American countries along with Canada and the USA have denounced Maduro’s Government as illegitimate, general secretary David Denny who travelled to Venezuela along with chairman of the Pan African Coalition of Organizations Onkphra Wells to witness the inauguration of Maduro, told members of the media that the people of Venezuela had embraced their leader.

Speaking at a press conference this week which was also attended by Charge D’Affairs of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Avero Sanchez Cordero, Denny described it as a “proud and humbling experience” to have been present for Maduro’s inauguration which took place on January 10, 2019.

He said despite efforts by the US and other countries to decry Maduro, he had done an excellent job as president.

“The average working-class person is entitled to a very good standard of living in Venezuela. I was going to Venezuela in the 1980s and conditions were bad, bad under [Carlos Andres] Perez. People were living in some of the worst conditions that you could think about.

“At this present moment when you pass you can see a proper housing development programme, proper healthcare and social missions. We have to do a lot of work to combat that negative information about Venezuela,” Denny said, adding that Venezuela is usually first to the rescue when any Caribbean island found itself in a crisis.

Wells said the fact that 67 per cent of the Venezuelan people had voted for Maduro showed they loved him. He insisted that rumours circulating which purported that the election process was corrupt were simply not true.

“This has been a democratic exercise winning by some 67 per cent of the votes. This is not someone that has stolen an election. The people came out and everywhere today there is talk about freedom and sovereignty and liberty, and yet with this great example in Venezuela there are problems,” Wells said.

“What is Nicholas Maduro guilty of that he can be classified as a threat to the national security of Venezuela? Is he invading other countries? Is he placing his cohorts to rape, steal and plunder the resources of other people?”

Wells said Maduro had in fact ushered a new age in Venezuela.