President Maduro: 'US Blockade on Venezuela Has Cost at Least 40,000 Deaths'

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro addressed the world's peoples in a letter published on Saturday to denounce the illegal blockade that the U.S. government has imposed upon his country for about two decades.

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Maduro explained that "the blockade succeeded in cutting off financing to Venezuela in the last five years, preventing it from accessing the required currency to acquire food, medicine, spare parts and essential raw materials for economic activity."

Moreover, "the U.S. has decreed a ban on the commercialization of Venezuelan hydrocarbons, its main export product, and source of fiscal income," the president added.

Amid the increase of hostilities against the South American nation, Venezuela's National Constitutional Assembly approved on October 8 the Anti-Blockade Law for National Development and the Guarantee of the Rights of the Venezuelan people, which aims at protecting the citizens from the continuous attacks on the economy and the wellbeing of the population.

In this sense, Maduro explained that the law "will allow for the creation of mechanisms to improve the nations' income." Furthermore, it will stimulate internal economic activity and carry out productive alliances.

The letter highlights the deadly impact of the U.S. blockade on the Venezuelan people as research carried out by the U.S. Center for Economic and Policy Research revealed that the blockade "is responsible for at least 40.000 deaths" in the country. 

Despite several U.S. government attempts to discredit Venezuela's electoral process, president Nicolás Maduro explained that all democratic conditions were established to hold the legislative elections on December 6, 2020. Over 90 percent of political organizations have registered before the National Electoral Council.