Venezuela Has the Means to Defeat the US Blockade

The Venezuelan Ambassador to Russia, Carlos Rafael Faría Tortosa, said Tuesday that despite the ongoing blockade by the United States, his country has found ways to defeat them and continue to advance his nation's economic development.

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In an interview with the Russian agency RT, Tortosa said that "when our president announced that the gold production in the country has been recovering, the U.S. government immediately banned any commercial relationship with our mining companies. We, of course, have already found ways to circumvent these sanctions."

Tortosa indicated that "we will act in the same way in relation to other measures that are being taken against our country."

According to the ambassador, Venezuela's total losses as a result of these sanctions imposed by the U.S. has been around US$130 billion. 

"As a result of the economic blockade imposed by the United States, the losses are estimated at US$130 billion dollars for the period between 2015 to 2018," he explained, adding that with these funds, Venezuela could have flourished for nine years.

The representative of the South American country in Russia said that despite the violent actions by sectors of the Venezuelan right, President Nicolás Maduro has insisted on the path of dialogue to peacefully resolve the situation and political differences among Venezuelans.

The diplomat explained that around 40 financial institutions in 17 countries have frozen US$5.47 billion from Venezuela. According to Tortosa, his government is fighting to free these funds and wants to inform the whole world about their financial situation.

Tortosa reiterated that Washington's main objective is "to overthrow the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro", and change the political course established by commander Hugo Chávez.

Finally, the ambassador denied the presence of Russian forces in Venezuela, adding that Moscow has expressed its position "to show that the issues can not be resolved with intervention, threats, and blackmail."