Venezuela Rep in Belize Discusses Country’s Issues

The leadership of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro continues to be tested, the latest challenge being a new round of sanctions being imposed by the United States government.  Those restrictions are aimed at eight members of Venezuela’s Supreme Court who are accused of usurping the authority of Venezuela’s democratically-elected legislature.  That body of lawmakers is ruled by a majority of opposition members.  This morning, a press conference was held here in Belize City during which Chargé d’affaires Miguel Castillo Pena spoke on behalf of the Venezuelan government.  According to the diplomat in charge of mission, the foreign media has been misrepresenting events in that country by amplifying its coverage of the recent uprising.

Miguel Castillo Pena

Miguel Castillo Pena, Chargé d’affaires, Venezuela [Translated]

“What is happening in Venezuela, of course, is not new, as you may know.  Since 1999, back when Commander Chavez was victorious in the polls, Venezuela has been under pressure from the international media and other powers.  So we can say that Venezuela is more than eighteen years under this great pressure from the larger media and the large international powers.  To give you an idea, a brief overview of what have been the latest happenings in Venezuela, at the end of March of this year, the Supreme Court in Venezuela gave two sentences in which one of them dictated that the main hall of the Supreme Court of Justice was taking over temporarily some of the functions of the Supreme Court.  This position was taken because they found that the national assembly as acting contrary to the constitution.  It is important to mention, especially for the people of Belize that Venezuela is a country ruled by a president and not a parliament.  So it means that the main functions of governing the country falls on the president of the country, which of course you know that the constitutional president of Venezuela is Mr. Nicholas Maduro who was elected by the people in a democratic election in 2003.”