MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. The Americans are unlikely to directly take part in any possible military intervention in Venezuela, Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic to Russia Carlos Rafael Faria Tortosa told TASS on Thursday.
"We are ready to defend our Motherland at any cost. Our president [Nicolas Maduro] is consistently very clear on this. We won’t allow any country to invade, even if it is a powerful nation like the United States, although we don’t think that the US will participate directly," the diplomat assured.
The Venezuelan president intends to iron out the current tense situation peacefully, the envoy stressed.
"It has to be said that the scenario, which President Maduro firmly believes in, envisages that we must solve all the problems fully by peaceful means. Our scenario and our desire are to make this happen," the diplomat said.
Media reports alleging that the families of high-ranking officials were leaving Venezuela are fake, he added.
"This is a lie," he said in response to a question. "Our top officials continue their work, they appear on TV screens every day," the ambassador noted. "We can see President Maduro, other officials, ministers and the Armed Forces, they are working side by side," Faria Tortosa said, adding that "such reports are part of a propaganda campaign."
Maduro calls for dialog
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro considers opposition leader Juan Guaido to be a criminal but he realizes the need to build dialogue to resolve the issues the country is facing, the ambassador said.
"We have a lawmaker who seeks to declare himself the country’s president. This is against the constitution. We consider him to be a criminal as he is usurping presidential authority. Our Supreme Court has already made a statement on the matter and an investigation is on the way," the ambassador said.
"President Maduro plans to resolve all issues by constitutional means, he always takes an open stance, calling for resolving issues through dialogue," Faria Tortosa stressed. "We will discuss nothing else. Our constitution says that the president is the one who took part in elections and got a majority of votes," he added.
"We have seen even small countries in the Caribbean region, Africa and other parts of the world boldly express support for the Venezuelan people and call for dialogue, instead of attempting to interfere. They are calling for respecting our constitution. We can see that Russia has been helpful in this regard, as well as China, Belarus, India and Iran. This kind of support may help avoid such a conflict," the Venezuelan ambassador pointed out.
Reports about Russian military contractors in Venezuela
Media reports about sending private Russian military contractors to Venezuela have nothing to do with reality, he said.
"Speaking on the rumors about private military companies, we haven’t got any confirmation. I don’t know where they get this from. I believe this is part of this provocative propaganda," the diplomat said.
Caracas highly appreciates Moscow’s support, the envoy noted. "We are very thankful for the statements of the Russian state, in particular, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Moscow speaks every day and tries to help solve the situation in Venezuela by peaceful means and certainly, condemns US statements in this regard."
Last week, Reuters reported citing its sources that the contractors associated with the so-called Wagner group, a Russian paramilitary organization, have allegedly arrived in Venezuela to protect the country’s President Nicolas Maduro.
Political upheaval rocks Venezuela
Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas on January 23.
Several countries, including the United States, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), Australia, Albania, Georgia and Israel, as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him as president. Subsequently, Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro blasted these actions as an attempted coup and said he was cutting diplomatic ties with the United States.
Meanwhile, Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands said that they would recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president unless Maduro called elections by February 3.
On January 29, Washington imposed sanctions against the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA and later transferred control of some of Venezuela’s assets in US banks to Guaido.
In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey voiced support for Maduro, while China called for resolving all differences peacefully and warned against foreign interference. The United Nations secretary general, in turn, called for dialogue to resolve the crisis.