Venezuelan president calls for lifting sanctions against his country

Caracas, July 20 (RHC)-- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro took stock of the work of Bolivarian diplomacy during the summit between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU) that took place in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday and Tuesday this week.

Referring to Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro highlighted that she "took our truth" to the summit "so that Europe definitely understands that Venezuela does not want to go back to the times of interventionism and colonialism.  We want respect because everything is possible with respect."

Through bilateral meetings with various European leaders, Delcy Rodriguez made it clear that Venezuela is a country that wants to live and grow in peace, which requires the lifting of sanctions against its people.

"They must respect our social, economic, and political life.  They must lift the sanctions they have on our country because they are unjustified, immoral, illegal, and criminal. They should lift them definitively and without conditions.  We, Venezuelans, do not accept that anyone places conditions what happens inside our country," Maduro said.

The Venezuelan president pointed out that the lifting of the sanctions will open the doors towards a greater economic interdependence, a perspective to which his country is willing to contribute.

"European investors want to come to Venezuela and they are welcome to invest in oil, gas, petrochemicals, agriculture, tourism and manufacturing," Maduro stated.

The Venezuelan president also referred to the need to "turn the page" on the EU-Venezuelan diplomatic relations, which were clouded in the past by the U.S. desire to impose a regime led by the right-wing politician Juan Guaido.

"They were wrong all the way when they tried to impose on us a president that nobody had elected: the cheater and thief Guaido.  Years went by and it was shown who was the real president of Venezuela," Maduro stressed.

"We resisted their onslaughts and attacks.  We now want to turn the page and begin to write a new history between Europe and Venezuela."