Venezuela: Maduro Denounces Bribery Attempts on Army Officers

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denounced this Sunday that the country's right-wing has received more than US$400 million with the objective of buying politicians, policemen and members of the Bolivarian National Armed Force, to put them at the service of foreign nations' interests.

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During an interview for the 'Jose Vicente Hoy' show, Maduro affirmed that despite bribes, the Venezuelan Armed Forces have remained loyal to the Constitution, the Venezuelan people, and the Bolivarian Revolution.

However, the head of state informed there are people imprisoned for giving in or being caught taking such illegal money.

"We have dismembered, with the participation of our own armed force officers, more than 47 attempts to recruit officers to put them at the service of Colombia's strategy and the gringos," Maduro said, adding that the Venezuelan Armed Forces "will never again kneel down to the gringos, nor will it ever again serve the oligarchy of this country."

The Venezuelan head of state also referred to the coup in Bolivia against the legitimate President Evo Morales, saying that "Evo is the only one who can restore the peace in Bolivia," in the face of the police repression unleashed by the Bolivian president's resignation.

"The order to arrest Evo and to assassinate him was given to a paramilitary group in Santa Cruz and another in Potosi, it is the intelligence information that reached us," he said, adding that the coup was financed from Washington and organized at the U.S. embassy in La Paz.

Maduro also denounced the ongoing U.S. sanctions against Venezuela, and in that sense, he stressed that the country "has the industrial economic power and the wealth to circumvent these sanctions and achieve economic stability, real growth and the protection of the social rights of our people."

The Venezuelan president affirmed that, despite Washington’s harassment to his country, the government maintains solid access to health care, education, employment and housing plans, among other social programs.

At another point in the interview, Maduro stated that the Venezuelan Armed Forces "will never again kneel down to the gringos, nor will it ever again serve the oligarchy of this country. Referring to the negotiation talks with the opposition, he emphasized his belief "in coexistence and peace."