MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/. Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has called on the global community to support Venezuela in light of US President Donald Trump’s threats, the EFE news agency reported.
While receiving credentials from the Spanish, French, Japanese, Syrian, Vietnamese and Guatemalan ambassadors on Monday, Maduro put forward an initiative to convene a summit in order to discuss the current situation.
"I request the countries that you represent to convene a closed-door summit to consider ways to preserve peace in Venezuela, as well as the threat of foreign interference that Donald Trump’s government made," Maduro said. The Venezuelan president stressed that an emergency summit was necessary to discuss the possibility of building dialogue between the Venezuelan government and opposition.
According to Maduro, "the danger of war and violence can only be overcome through dialogue, diplomatic and political steps." He pointed out that there was a possibility to launch dialogue with the Venezuelan opposition, as well as with representatives of "all the social and political circles" in order to "reach peace" in the country. However, achieving this goal required the support of "brotherly governments," Maduro said.
On Monday, while addressing a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas, the Venezuelan president stated that the United States had made a serious mistake by threatening to launch a military operation in Venezuela. "Why he [Donald Trump] makes the most serious mistake ever made in connection with a Latin American country during 200 years of relations?" Maduro said. In his view, Trump’s statement was triggered by the Constitutional Assembly election held in Venezuela on July 30. "As the [Venezuelan] opposition faced a defeat… they decided to try and confront the Bolivarian revolution themselves," Maduro said.
Venezuela’s Constitutional Assembly, eligible to reform the system of government and change the Constitution, was convened by the president’s decision. The opposition, which has control over Venezuela’s parliament, boycotted the Constitutional Assembly election and refused to accept the voting results.
The Constitutional Assembly election was met from the global community. The United States said that "the sham election of the National Constituent Assembly represent a very serious blow to democracy in our hemisphere." After that, the US imposed sanctions against the Venezuelan president.
On August 11, US President Donald Trump noted that Washington was considering various scenarios concerning Venezuela, including a military operation. "We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option if necessary," Trump said at a briefing.