- Title: Venezuela defends Cuba ties after Trump calls Maduro 'Cuban puppet'
- Date: 24th September 2019
- Summary: UNITED NATIONS (SEPTEMBER 24, 2019) (REUTERS) VENEZUELAN FOREIGN MINISTER, JORGE ARREAZA, APPROACHING REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) VENEZUELAN FOREIGN MINISTER, JORGE ARREAZA, SAYING: "For what you said about the puppet, no? That [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro is a Cuban puppet. [REPORTER SAYING: "President Trump called Nicolas Maduro a Cuban puppet. Do you have a reaction to this?"] I think, in first place, Trump is the puppet of imperialism, of capitalism. He responds to money, to money accumulation, to capital accumulation. But the real puppets in our region are those presidents that got together yesterday. Or that they failed in the OAS [Organization of American States]. They failed, then they created this Lima group, they failed. Now they are conveying the Rio Treaty, and they are failing again. And they are the puppets of Donald Trump. They do what he wants. So those are the puppets. We respect Cuba. Cuba respects Venezuela. We have a friendship, a 'brother-ship' that we have and we will continue working together with Cuba. But the puppets others in this region." (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELAN FOREIGN MINISTER, JORGE ARREAZA, SAYING: "Look, for creating aggression before the General Assembly - they [the United States] expelled two Cuban diplomats from their mission, without reason, here in the United Nations, they restricted the area of activity, for only to the island of Manhattan. It should all be reviewed. I think that countries like Iran, like Cuba, like Venezuela, and other countries, it should be reviewed that the main site of the United Nations belonging here in the United States, here in New York. Because the host country doesn't respect, not even the agreements of the host country that it ought to respect. And it starts with the imposing of restrictions, blocking entry, (saying) you have to enter in such a way. In the case of the Iranian Foreign Minister, he has two routes. He can't divert from a route to his mission, a route that comes here. What's that about? For some reason, the United Nations is here in New York. Respect multilateralism, respect the United Nations charter, or not, and get out of here, the seat of the United Nations that is, that it should be removed from here. We can put it in Beijing, we can situate it in Moscow, or in Europe, or in Latin America. Because if international law isn't respected, then it makes no sense for it to be here." ARREAZA WALKING AWAY FROM REPORTERS
- Embargoed: 8th October 2019 20:40
- Keywords: Jorge Arreaza United Nations UNGA Venezuela
- Location: UNITED NATIONS
- City: UNITED NATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics,United Nations
- Reuters ID: LVA001AY0RA6F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza on Tuesday (September 24) said his country would continue working with Cuba, after U.S. President Donald Trump called Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro a "Cuban puppet" in his United Nations speech.
Arreaza countered by calling Trump a "puppet of imperialism and capitalism" and said other countries in the region that recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido were puppets of the United States.
Amid their country's crisis, Venezuela's rival political factions are taking their power struggle to New York next week, where representatives of Maduro and opposition chief Juan Guaido will each try to convince a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations that their boss is the country's legitimate head of state.
The United States and more than 50 other countries recognize Guaido, the leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, as the rightful president. Guaido in January invoked the constitution to assume a rival presidency to Maduro, arguing the socialist president's May 2018 re-election was a sham.
But the 193-member U.N. General Assembly still recognizes Maduro, who retains the support of the U.N. Security Council's veto-wielding permanent members Russia and China, setting the stage for the two sides to air their public grievances as they battle for international backing.
A round of negotiations brokered by Norway in recent months, aimed at peacefully resolving the crisis, has failed.
Guaido is seeking to get more countries, especially the European Union, to implement sanctions on Venezuela, as the United States has done.
Maduro, who has overseen a collapse of the OPEC nation's once-prosperous economy and has been accused by the U.N.'s High Commissioner for Human Rights of rights violations, wants to heap pressure on the United States to lift sanctions on state oil company PDVSA and members of his inner circle.
(Production by: Dan Fastenberg) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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