Military scenario for Venezuela devised abroad, says governor

CARACAS, March 7. /TASS/. Venezuelan people don’t support the ‘use of force’ scenario to solve the political crisis, these ideas come only from outside, the governor of Venezuela’s Miranda state, Hector Rodriguez, told TASS on Thursday.

"We understand that tensions are seen in the Venezuelan society at the moment, and that at a certain point in time force may be used," the governor said. "I believe that the ideas of military solutions come only from outside, as the nationals of Venezuela themselves don’t agree with them. Drive through the state’s streets and you won’t feel any tension or an aggressive atmosphere," Hector Rodriguez said.

"However, discussion of the opposition and the US via US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams, who has an experience of meddling in affairs of Latin American countries, prompts us to look very cautiously at the situation," the politician said. (Abrams was involved in a scandal around US supplies of arms to Nicaraguan anti-government Contras in bypassing the Congress in the mid-1980s - TASS)

"But peace and stability prevails on the agenda. The only way to settle the crisis in Venezuela is a dialogue, progress along a democratic path," he stressed.

Hector Rodriguez, 36, is a young leader of Chavism. He is seen among the government supporters as a possible candidate for presidency if elections are called.

Crisis in Venezuela

On January 23, 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

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. Maduro, in turn, blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US. On February 4, most of the European Union member states recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president

In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria 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.