Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he sent “to hell” a representative of the U.S. State Department in response to threats by Washington to strengthen sanctions against Caracas, reports Infobae. According to Maduro, the White House threatened Miraflores, the residence of Venezuela’s head, with “reprisals and sanctions” if there is no progress in the dialogue with the opposition.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday rejected the “threats” and “blackmail” by the U.S. government to increase sanctions if there is no progress in the dialogue with the opposition, reports Infobae.
According to the Argentine edition, Maduro said in front of thousands of supporters in the Venezuelan capital that a U.S. State Department official made threats against Caracas on Wednesday. According to the Venezuelan leader, Washington threatened that if there was no progress in negotiations with Venezuela’s main opposition force, the United Platform, the White House would use “reprisals and sanctions” against Miraflores, the Venezuelan head’s residence.
“I say to the gringo representative: gringo representative, go to hell out of here,” Maduro said of his reaction.
In a speech at the end of a march marking the 21st anniversary of the failure of the opposition’s 2002 coup attempt to seize power, Maduro said his government does not accept “threats” or “blackmail” from the United States, nor do they accept attempts to interfere in Venezuela’s internal affairs.
“They don’t know who they are messing with. It is the people, the people of Venezuela, who in this 21 years have already demonstrated enough courage, patriotism, anti-imperialism, dignity and love for a great homeland. And there is not a single imperialist spokesman born to frighten Venezuelans in the fight for their land,” said the President.
As Infobae recalls, in mid-February, Maduro questioned the possibility of returning to a dialogue with the opposition, which had not been held since November. He accused the opposition of not keeping their word because they have not implemented the agreement signed in November providing for the return of resources withdrawn due to economic sanctions.