The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela rejects, repudiates and denounces to the international community the very serious military aggression perpetrated by the current Government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory and population in civilian and military localities of the city of Caracas, capital of the Republic, and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.
This act constitutes a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations, especially its Articles 1 and 2, which enshrine respect for sovereignty, legal equality of States and the prohibition of the use of force. Such aggression threatens international peace and stability, specifically in Latin America and the Caribbean, and puts the lives of millions of people at serious risk.
The objective of this attack is none other than to seize the strategic resources of Venezuela, in particular its oil and minerals, trying to forcibly break the political independence of the Nation. They won’t succeed. After more than two hundred years of independence, the Venezuelan people and their legitimate government stand firm in defense of sovereignty and the inalienable right to decide their destiny.
The attempt to impose a colonial war to destroy the republican form of government and force a “regime change“, in alliance with the fascist oligarchy will fail like all previous attempts.
Since 1811, Venezuela has faced and defeated empires. When in 1902 foreign powers bombed our coasts, President Cipriano Castro proclaimed: “The insolent plant of the foreigner has desecrated the sacred soil of the Homeland.“ Today, with the morals of Bolivar, Miranda and our liberators, the Venezuelan people rise up again to defend their independence from the imperial aggression.
The people to the street
The Bolivarian Government calls on all the social and political forces of the country to activate the mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack. The people of Venezuela and their Bolivarian National Armed Forces, in perfect popular-military-police fusion, are deployed to guarantee sovereignty and peace. Simultaneously, the Bolivarian Diplomacy of Peace will raise the corresponding complaints to the UN Security Council, the Secretary General of that organization, CELAC and the MNOAL, demanding the condemnation and accountability of the US Government.
President Nicolás Maduro has arranged all national defense plans to be implemented at the appropriate time and circumstances, in strict adherence to the provisions of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Organic Law on States of Exception and the Organic Law of Security of the Nation.
In this sense, President Nicolás Maduro has signed and ordered the implementation of the Decree that declares the state of External Commotion throughout the national territory, to protect the rights of the population, the full functioning of the Republican institutions and immediately move on to armed struggle. The whole country must be active to defeat this imperialist aggression
Likewise, it has ordered the immediate deployment of the Command for the Integral Defense of the Nation and the Management Bodies for the Integral Defense in all states and municipalities of the country.
In strict adherence to article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, Venezuela reserves the right to exercise legitimate defense to protect its people, its territory and its independence.
We call on the peoples and governments of Latin America, the Caribbean and the world to mobilize in active solidarity in the face of this imperial aggression.
As Supreme Commander Hugo Chávez Frías pointed out, “in any circumstance of new difficulties, whatever size, the response of all patriots … is unity, struggle, battle and victory.“
