Caracas, April 9 (RHC-NNN) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused the U.S. government of backing violent actions and promote a coup against his administration.
In an interview published by the British newspaper, The Guardian, President Maduro denounced the destabilizing actions carried out by opposition forces and said they will not destroy the Bolivarian Revolution.
"They are trying to sell to the world the idea that the protests are some sort of Arab spring," he said. "But in Venezuela, we have already had our spring: our revolution that opened the door to the 21st century".
Maduro blamed the opposition for promoting violence and harming the development of the country to justify a foreign intervention.
Maduro said that his country is currently facing an "unconventional war that the US has perfected over the last decades", citing a string of US-backed coups or attempted coups from 1960s Brazil to Honduras in 2009, including that organized against Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in 2002.
He stressed that, despite denying its involvement in subversive activities, the real interest of the U.S. administration is gaining control over Venezuelan oil.
He said the US was using continuing street protests to attempt a "slow-motion" Ukraine-style coup against his government and "get their hands on Venezuelan oil".
Venezuela, estimated to have the world's largest oil reserves, has faced continuous violent street protests since the beginning of February, after US-backed opposition sectors launched a campaign, under the slogan of "the exit", to destabilize the South American nation and overthrow the democratically-elected government of President Maduro.
Referring to the achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution for the benefit of the vast majority of the Venezuelan people, particularly the poor, Maduro pointed to the large increases in social provision and reduction in inequality over the past decade and a half.
Maduro said: "When I was a union leader there wasn't a single program to protect the education, health, housing and salaries of the workers. It was the reign of savage capitalism. Today in Venezuela, the working class is in power: it's the country where the rich protest and the poor celebrate their social wellbeing," he said.