'US Did Not Consider the Venezuelan People's Strength' Maduro

At the annual Address to the Nation issued from the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) in Caracas, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro began his balance of the 2019 economic and political situation highlighting that the United States had failed flatly in its attempt to break the Bolivian nation's revolutionary will.

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"Washington's final attempted assault against Venezuela failed," Maduro said and explained that "the Empire tightened the siege against our homeland" referring to the intensification of the financial, economic and commercial bloc against his country.

"They intended to tie our hands and feet financially," the Bolivarian president said and thanked the Venezuelan people for their resistance amid the economic crisis induced by the President Donald Trump administration.

"Their calculations did not consider a factor, the people factor, which has 20 years of revolution and feels heir to the legacy of Hugo Chavez."

The Venezuelan president recalled that the transportation of alleged "humanitarian aid" from Colombia was the disguise used by the far-right opposition to try to attack the Bolivarian government.

On Feb. 23, 2019, "the aggression came disguised as humanitarian aid trucks," Maduro said and added that a "millionaire concert endorsing the aggression" was performed shortly before the failed attempt.

In Cucuta, a Colombian city near the border with Venezuela, Chile's president Sebastian Piñera, Colombia's president Ivan Duque, and the U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence met with opposition politician Juan Guaido.

"Pence, Duke, and Piñera were accompanying him in the ridicule they made," Maduro commented.

A month earlier, this U.S.-backed lawmaker proclaimed himself as "President in Charge" of the South American country during a rally held El Cachao, a high-class municipality located in Caracas.

Over US$40 billion was the cost of U.S. aggression

During his Address to the Nation, Maduro revealed that the Trump-fostered economic blockade was equivalent to the theft of Venezuelan assets for US$40 billion.

This arbitrary action has hindered the recovery of the Venezuelan economy in circumstances in which the local private sector has contributed to creating a parallel currency market that fostered informal dollarization.

To prevent these actions from affecting the majority of the population much more, the Bolivarian government has designed a policy strategy in which the Venezuelan cryptocurrency, the Petro, plays a fundamental role.

This virtual currency expanded its circulation notoriously in Dec. 2019 when it was handed over as a bonus to favor workers who are still at the mercy of the private "criminal speculation."

Solidarity is the greatest moral force

In 2019, despite the difficulties steaming from the U.S. economic bullying, the Venezuelan government and people generated the conditions for peace to prevail in their territory and gave a lesson to the world.

"We have achieved political and social peace. Now we are going to relaunch the economy to give prosperity to all Venezuelans, who deserve it after the imperialist war."

The President pointed out that the Venezuelan people strengthened their solidarity vocation while deploying their ingenuity to overcome the daily challenges induced by the U.S. blockade.

"The lesson is solidarity. It is not a survival reaction," Maduro said and stressed that solidarity is "the greatest moral force to which we can aspire to face life as a nation and as a people."

"Mission accomplished. Independent and socialist homeland," the Bolivarian president said at the end of his annual Address to the Nation.