WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House National Security Adviser John Bolton accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of squandering public funds on Sunday to “buy” Russia’s support, despite the fact that “hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans “go hungry at this time.
“Maduro has shamelessly squandered Venezuela’s resources.” In May, while hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans went hungry, Maduro gave Russia $ 209 million for a defense contract to buy its support, “Bolton denounced in his official account. of Twitter.
“Venezuelans long for truly democratic leadership, not repression,” the US official concluded.
The presence of Russian personnel in Venezuela has caused concern in the USA. and other partners, and Washington even asked Moscow to withdraw these people from the South American country.
However, Russian President Vldimir Putin said on June 6 that Moscow is not creating military bases or sending troops to Venezuela, but acknowledged that “it must honor its contractual obligations” with the South American country in terms of maintenance of equipment previously supplied.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Putin during the G20 summit later this month in Osaka (Japan), and the issue of Venezuela is expected to be on the agenda. it supports – like 50 other countries – the opposition leader Juan Guaidó, while Russia maintains its support for President Maduro.
The US president already warned that Russia had to “leave” Venezuela last March, when two planes with about 100 Russian soldiers landed near Caracas for what Moscow described as a mission to maintain equipment supplied to Venezuela.
But Trump has avoided an open confrontation with Putin, and after speaking with him on the phone a month ago, he came to the point of contradicting his government and assuring that the Russian leader was “not thinking at all about getting involved in Venezuela.”
In this regard, Putin has pointed out that Russia is against interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela.
The tension in Venezuela has increased since last January 23 the head of the Venezuelan Parliament, Juan Guaidó, was awarded the powers of the Executive as president in charge of the country because he considered Nicolás Maduro illegitimate after being re-elected in elections that the opposition criticizes. “fraudulent”.
This action accelerated the political crisis in Venezuela, because, in addition, much of the international community, such as the United States and several European and Latin American countries, have given their support to Guaidó and press for elections to be called. (EFEUSA)
