1 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:18,200 Hello and welcome to the UK column. 2 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:20,400 Today I'm joined by Jose Bimorji. 3 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,280 Jose is currently serving as Venezuelan Ambassador to Lebanon 4 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,440 and Syria and has previously served as Minister of Industries 5 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:29,080 and Production in the Venezuelan government. 6 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:32,360 Welcome to the programme, Jose. Yes, hello. 7 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:38,360 My first of all, thank you so much for this opportunity to 8 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:43,120 speak a little bit about Venezuela and bring the the true 9 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:46,200 of the Venezuelan people around the world. 10 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:50,480 Because as you know, the mainstream media used to 11 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:54,840 manipulate information everywhere and the algorithms in 12 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:59,440 the social media, they are playing a very bad job by hiding 13 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:03,760 the the information. No by shadow. 14 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:07,280 Shadow banned information that we have or we want to sell. 15 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,320 Venezuela has been in the news quite a bit in recent weeks 16 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:13,680 because President Trump has been has decided to bomb some boats, 17 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,160 which he claims are related to drug trafficking. 18 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,720 And now the threat is to bomb targets inside Venezuela itself. 19 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:21,760 So. So what's going on between the 20 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:24,400 United States regime and Venezuela at this point? 21 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,440 You know the difference between US and US. 22 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:34,520 They is started 200 years ago. It's not from now. 23 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:37,920 It started from the moment when we got the independence from 24 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,760 Spain. So we have, if we read the 25 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,760 history of Venezuela and United States from the moment that we 26 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:51,600 got independence from Spain, they, they start to treat us for 27 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:57,360 many reason, for many reason, they will never, ever forgive us 28 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:04,640 the fact that we bring the, the freedom to the, the Latin 29 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:06,400 American. We start with the freedom 30 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,720 process. So during the first mandate of 31 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:18,560 President Trump, he tried to support many coup d'etat against 32 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:21,680 Venezuela. We don't have to forget for 33 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:26,160 example the strong support that the the regime of President 34 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,840 Trump gave to to the self proclaimed President of 35 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:36,720 Venezuela, Juan Guaido in 2016. This aggression against 36 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:44,240 Venezuela started at the Obama times, the Nobel Peace Prize. 37 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:49,840 Obama who declared Venezuela as a treat for the United States in 38 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,760 2014. He start boot sanction on 39 00:02:52,760 --> 00:03:01,560 Venezuela in 2015 and then from 2016 to 2020 during the first 40 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:09,840 period of Trump, they carried out a huge pressure strategy 41 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:16,800 against Venezuela that by blocking our resource, by frozen 42 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:25,720 our our account in around the world, by stolen our gold from 43 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:30,840 UK, by supporting the central county President Guaido, by 44 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:36,520 doing pressure on more than 60 countries around the world, 60 45 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,040 countries around the world that recognise Guaido. 46 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:47,040 And even even we don't have to forget that in 2020, if I 47 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:52,360 remember well, they tried to invade Venezuela throughout 48 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:56,000 Colombia at that time. And even the Vice President 49 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:02,040 Pence, he was in a in the border being cuckot in the border 50 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:06,000 between Venezuela and Colombia, trying to support an invasion, 51 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:11,040 invasion against Venezuela. So this is a policy that started 52 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:16,040 long time ago, but now they just changed the narrative. 53 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,000 Why? Because the opposition, the 54 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:25,880 extreme opposition in Venezuela, the at that time was Guaido, 55 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:30,360 this time is Maria Machado. They changed the actors, but 56 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:35,680 they are always the same fraction of this small, fairly 57 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:40,160 small part of the opposition in Venezuela, which is completely 58 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:47,880 extremist opposition and is subordinate, subordinated to to 59 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:55,680 United States. They are completely uncapable to 60 00:04:56,120 --> 00:05:00,080 carry out a coup d'etat against our government. 61 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:04,880 No, So they don't have any capacity to do nothing. 62 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,520 They are completely new in Venezuela. 63 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:12,680 Well, that is why the President Trump, he changed his narrative 64 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:18,000 and now he's speaking about this extravagant history, about the 65 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:22,600 cartelo de Los soles and the narcos state, which is 66 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,120 completely crazy history. I think even in the United 67 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,880 States, the people doesn't believe in this history. 68 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:34,360 He's looking for the support of the Congress, the support of the 69 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:42,520 internal politics in USA in order to perform an aggression 70 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,240 against Venezuela. But he wasn't able. 71 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:52,200 And to finish with this part, it is important to mention that in 72 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,600 my opinion, I think it's completely clear this strategy 73 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,480 is planified. Let's see. 74 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:04,800 Or leaded by Marcos, Rubio more than the President Trump. 75 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:08,960 OK, but what's the reason for this? 76 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,440 And is this because he wants regime change to get rid of a 77 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:15,120 socialist government? Or is this because the US wants 78 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:17,800 access to oil and other raw materials? 79 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:20,360 I think it's both of them. It's both of them. 80 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,400 First of all, of course they are supporting a change regime in 81 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:28,480 Venezuela. They, if they can't put some 82 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:33,160 puppet like they have in another country, Latin America, they 83 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,440 will feel much better or happier than Nile. 84 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:44,560 But of course, the main aim or the main objective of the of any 85 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:51,360 regime in United State is to appropriate of our resource. 86 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:55,600 We don't have to forget that Venezuela has the biggest oil 87 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:59,240 reserve around the world. But also we have the gold, we 88 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:07,480 have aluminium, we have iron, we have gas, we have rare earth, we 89 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,120 have many, many resource. We have a lot of water and we 90 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:12,920 have a lot of land. So of course, the main objective 91 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:19,000 of any administration, US administration, is to put their 92 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:23,640 hand on our resource. Yeah, it's, it's interesting you 93 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,640 mentioned rare earths, because of course part of the argument 94 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,360 between the United States and China at the moment is over 95 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:31,640 access to rare earths. So what kind of rare earth 96 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:34,000 resources does Venezuela actually have? 97 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:39,560 We we have some of them, we are still exploring the the presence 98 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:42,320 of the rare earth. You know that the rare earth are 99 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:48,360 in in a very small amount in that is why the name is rare 100 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:52,440 earth. We have discovered around four 101 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:56,080 or five rare earth. Of course, the most difficult 102 00:07:56,400 --> 00:08:00,280 part of the rare earth is not the extraction of sorry, it's 103 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:05,040 not the explosion is always is also the extraction of them. 104 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:08,840 But we are they are thinking in the in the future. 105 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,520 And you, you mentioned that Venezuela has the largest oil 106 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:14,640 reserves on the planet. That that's something I actually 107 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,920 didn't know. And looking at the statistics, 108 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:20,120 Venezuela apparently is more oil than Saudi Arabia. 109 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:23,840 So I can see why that would make Venezuela a significant target 110 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:28,560 for the United States. Yes, of course, we have more 111 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:34,840 than 300 billion barrel as a reserve and you know most of the 112 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:40,679 refineries in United States, they were built considering our 113 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:44,480 oil, the medium heavy oil, they need our oil. 114 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:50,520 So of course, the main interest of United States is always the 115 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:53,760 economy. Behind all of the war, behind 116 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:57,520 all of the treating, behind all of the strategy of United State, 117 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:02,760 That is the economy as we know. You mentioned Marco Rubio there. 118 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:04,760 Why do you think he's particularly interested in 119 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,040 regime change as opposed to, for example, others in the Trump 120 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:11,720 administration? Yes, because he is completely 121 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,200 obsessed against Venezuela, against Cuba, against Nicaragua. 122 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:21,680 You know that he's the boss of the Latin lobbying in Florida 123 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:29,200 and in Florida has a very important role in any election. 124 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:32,840 So next year there is the midterm election in your in US. 125 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:38,080 Apparently the number of the, the support in Florida is 126 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:42,080 decreasing for Trump. So he want to show the President 127 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:46,480 Trump that he is able to, to do something against Venezuela. 128 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,240 He's he's obsessive with, with Venezuela. 129 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:54,240 And my personal opinion, that's my personal opinion, there is a 130 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:58,080 big internal confrontation in the Trump administration. 131 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:00,920 There is 2 parts. There is the deep state part, 132 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:04,840 which is Marcos Rubio is part of this deep state. 133 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:07,600 And there is another part of the businessman, the new very 134 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:12,520 pragmatic businessman, that is the very rich people. 135 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:15,800 Marcos Rubio is not part of this establishment. 136 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:20,320 And there is a big confrontation between these two parts, between 137 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,280 the deep state and the new pragmatic rich people, 138 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:28,800 businessmen. So I think it's completely, it's 139 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:34,360 very clear that after Trump, one of the aspiration of Marcos, 140 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:39,040 Rubio and even Vans, they want to be the candidate for the 141 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:40,800 Republicans for the next election. 142 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:48,040 So there is a an internal issue and when US has some internal 143 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:53,200 programme, they used to look for an external enemy to distract 144 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:54,640 their population and their people. 145 00:10:54,640 --> 00:11:00,680 But the problem is inside United States to add some information. 146 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:03,600 Why? How you can explain for example, 147 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:06,720 that after the President Trump reached an agreement with the 148 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:10,400 Venezuelan government, with the President Maduro to exchange 149 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:14,920 some people, the the young people immigrant that they sent 150 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:17,120 to El Salvador from United States. 151 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:23,040 We did an agreement to exchange those people for 10 criminals, 152 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:27,480 American criminals that that they were judged and they were 153 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:32,920 in the gaol in Venezuela. And after this agreement, 154 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:38,800 immediately the President Trump renew the licence to the Chevron 155 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,760 company to keep their operation in Venezuela. 156 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:47,640 So how you can explain? So after these two fact, they 157 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:53,320 immediately start to to treat Venezuela to send the ship 158 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:57,280 warships to Venezuela to speak about the narco state. 159 00:11:57,280 --> 00:11:59,960 So how you can reach an agreement with the narco state 160 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:03,120 is a is a narrative of course. Yes, indeed. 161 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:07,440 Now look, I want to come on to in a second to the opposition 162 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:09,880 that exists in Venezuela and you've already mentioned one 163 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:12,440 name in particular. But before I do that I just 164 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:15,480 wanted to ask you what your view of Britain's position is in all 165 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:19,680 this and whether Britain is has any role in pushing an anti 166 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:21,600 Venezuelan narrative at the moment as well. 167 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:27,960 Yes, there is. You know, I think in in the war 168 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:33,200 there is a new geopolitical world, let's say that is 169 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:36,760 burning. Of course, this new the the new 170 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:43,040 system or the new geopolitical world that is is burning the 171 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:46,320 British, the British government is gains. 172 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:51,160 Of course, they want to keep their hegemony around the world. 173 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:58,360 And one of the biggest enemy of the new world there of Russia of 174 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:02,840 China of everything that has relationship with the new world 175 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:07,360 is the the UK regime. Let's say, you know, the British 176 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:10,400 regime. So of course Venezuela is part 177 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:15,560 of this new supporter of the of the new world, which is 178 00:13:15,560 --> 00:13:17,560 necessary. This system is done. 179 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:21,320 This all the system, all the Germany is done. 180 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:26,640 It's a matter of time. Gramsci, he used to say that 181 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:34,080 when something new has to born but doesn't born and something 182 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:39,000 old has to die and doesn't die, that is the monsters and this 183 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:41,840 monster. We can see this monster in in 184 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:45,040 Israel for for example, we can see this monster around the 185 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:49,040 world that they are trying to avoid the born of the of the new 186 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:52,360 world. But the new world will born very 187 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:56,160 soon is born in and Venezuela is part of this war. 188 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:03,920 Of course, anyone who doesn't want or the the new world we're 189 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,760 do a blackmail or sabotage on on this process. 190 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,560 And UK is one of them. Probably UK was the supporting 191 00:14:11,560 --> 00:14:18,000 in a very strong way Juan Guaido and Maria Machado and they are 192 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:24,880 supporting the the puppet president of of Guyana is 193 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:27,920 promoting a war against Venezuela. 194 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:33,720 So was the UK government who the the main supporter of this idea? 195 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:37,200 Well, let's talk about the opposition inside Venezuela then 196 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:39,880 for a second, because you mentioned President Obama being 197 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:44,320 a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Of course, Maria Machado has now 198 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:47,080 also received a Nobel Peace Prize. 199 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,360 She's a recipient. Is she a peacemaker? 200 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:55,120 Absolutely no. If we if we see the background 201 00:14:55,120 --> 00:15:01,240 of this lady, first of all, we have to say that the the Nobel 202 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:04,080 Peace Prize is completely devaluated. 203 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:10,160 They it lost all of the credibility around the world. 204 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:13,720 If you see who won the Nobel Peace Prize from one time ago, 205 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:18,400 Kissinger, Obama people that doesn't have any relationship 206 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:21,440 with peace doesn't have any credibility. 207 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,960 But in this case, I think it's the cherry of the on the cake. 208 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:29,920 No, with the case of Maria Machado, because Maria Machado, 209 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:35,520 if you see his background or in Venezuela, she was calling for 210 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,680 an invasion against Venezuela. She was calling for aggression 211 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:41,120 against Venezuela. She was calling to block 212 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:45,400 Venezuela, to treat Venezuela. Actually, she supported the 213 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:49,040 policy of Trump to send the Venezuelan immigrant to El 214 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:54,080 Salvador to the gaol. And recently, just few days ago, 215 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:59,760 before the politic party of Maria Corina Machado Vente, 216 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:04,080 Venezuela signed an agreement with the Likud Party of Israel, 217 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:09,360 the politic party of Netanyahu sharing the ideology. 218 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,320 Can you imagine? Some people that share the 219 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:18,040 ideology of Netanyahu win a Nobel Prize is quite crazy. 220 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:23,920 But recently, after the they announced the extravagant 221 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:27,880 announced that she won the no, the Nobel Peace Prize, she 222 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:34,000 called the the President Trump and she called Netanyahu the 223 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:38,160 Prime Minister of Israel to congratulate him for the 224 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:43,920 genocide in Gaza. So this is Malia Corina Machado. 225 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:49,120 This is the the, the symbol, she is the symbol of the aggression. 226 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:55,960 She is the sign ball of the violence so doesn't has any 227 00:16:55,960 --> 00:17:02,720 relationship with the with the peace and is a very weak favour 228 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:07,640 that the Nobel committed did against the Nobel Peace Prize. 229 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:13,520 Unfortunately, to say something in Venezuela, no one is speaking 230 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:19,560 about this prize or this award doesn't have any importance in 231 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:21,960 Venezuela. If you look the news in 232 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:26,560 Venezuela, no one is speaking, only the boats, the boats that 233 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:31,440 Maria Corina have on the social media and in the United States, 234 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:33,200 most of them live in the United States. 235 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:39,240 They have, they manage the social media and they have a big 236 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:44,720 boats in all social media and they are trying to replay and to 237 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:49,800 speak and to keep the Nobel Peace Prize on on the news. 238 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:54,520 But no one is speaking. Venezuela didn't have any impact 239 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:58,240 in Venezuela. Actually, I think the impact 240 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:03,400 that this Nobel Peace Prize had in Venezuela was to unite the 241 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:08,200 people against this attitude. So who's behind her? 242 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,960 Does she have any particular support in Venezuela and is she 243 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:16,520 in fact has rumoured funded or working for the CIA? 244 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:22,080 No, she doesn't have any support inside Venezuela and just a 245 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:29,120 very, very small part of let's say of, of the of our society 246 00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:32,360 supported, but very small part because Venezuela is a 247 00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:36,280 peacefully country. Everyone that has been in 248 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:39,600 Venezuela know that the Venezuelan love the peace. 249 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:45,120 Even if we are ready, we, we defend, we defend our 250 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:50,080 sovereignty, our independence in a very strong way. 251 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:55,760 We have very peacefully people. So we don't like this kind of 252 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,720 leadership. She's supported by the CIA, of 253 00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:03,040 course. And let's say something there is 254 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:09,440 a a guy you can look for for him or you can read a little bit 255 00:19:10,120 --> 00:19:15,080 about him is Thor Harbour saying, I don't remember very 256 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,040 well his name. He's the Norwegian Venezuelan 257 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:21,200 origin. He's working for a foundation in 258 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,960 Norway. And he was one of the biggest 259 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:32,560 supporter of Mala Corina Machado, the the Nobel committed 260 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:35,800 prize. So he paid a lot of money. 261 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,040 Unfortunately, I have to say that, you know, I am chemist, 262 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:46,200 this is my, my origin. So I am a scientist origin and I 263 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:52,040 know from from where this prize is coming or this prize is 264 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:58,320 coming from who was Nobel. So I am very sad to say that 265 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:01,520 this prize is using to manipulate, to promote the war, 266 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:04,600 to promote the aggression, to support the aggression around 267 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:09,040 the world best. But this prize has a price you 268 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,600 have to pay to get it and Tor Harborson. 269 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:16,800 He is one of the biggest supporter of Maria Corina 270 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:19,760 Machado in Norway. It's often a case, it seems, 271 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:22,920 that opposition figures are supported by tax exempt 272 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,920 foundation money, and I just wondered to what degree these 273 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:28,760 foundations are being used by deep state organisations to 274 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,520 effectively launder foreign state funding of opposition 275 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:35,040 parties in countries like Venezuela where regime changes 276 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:39,720 desired. Yes, especially this part of the 277 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:44,440 opposition, you know, is it's funny when I, when I listen 278 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:49,640 someone from the US administration or UK speaking 279 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:54,920 about the laundry money, about drugs, about the narco traffic. 280 00:20:55,880 --> 00:21:01,800 If you see, you can study or evaluate in which country 281 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:06,640 normally the people used to laundry money or when the 282 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,160 corrupt, the corrupt people used to send their money. 283 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:13,080 I will, I will not because I'm diplomatic. 284 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:16,560 So I have to be careful about what I'm saying. 285 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:20,400 I don't want to mention any countries, but you can see which 286 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:24,520 country is a paradise, a fiscal paradise for the larger money. 287 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:30,200 Most of them who don't say, all of them are under control of UK 288 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:34,160 or or US. So how Venezuela for example, 289 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:40,360 can larger money, if we are blocked in the financial system, 290 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,280 what means larger money, clean money is use the financial 291 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:48,040 system, the formal financial system to put your money that 292 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:54,280 you get or you got for illegal business to clean it and put it 293 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:59,640 in a formal financial system. So how Venezuela will do to do 294 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:05,480 that if we are blocked from the formal financial system? 295 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:09,160 So it's just a narrative, you know, to create a narrative. 296 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:14,480 Of course, today is very easy to confuse the people. 297 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:20,840 I was speaking yesterday with some friends about how the 298 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:26,840 social media is affecting, is affecting the information and 299 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:30,960 the education of the people, because the people just read 300 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,560 the, the, the, the, the sentence, the news, the, the 301 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:36,600 title. That doesn't look for the they 302 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:40,280 don't go deepest in the information to understand what 303 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:42,520 is happening. So it's very easy to manipulate 304 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:45,960 the people. Actually, Mike, I got many 305 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:50,840 congratulations for many good friends that they support the 306 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,680 Venezuelan government. They are with us and they 307 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:56,560 congratulate me for the Nobel Peace Prize. 308 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:03,120 You know that that means that there is a big confusion, 309 00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:07,880 ignorance. But we don't have to criticise, 310 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:13,400 We really have to take action to take measures to avoid this kind 311 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:15,360 of confusion in between the people. 312 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:17,760 OK. So you're based in Lebanon at 313 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:19,920 the moment, and so I'd like to learn a little bit more about 314 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,560 your experiences in that region and what you see Venezuela's 315 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:25,720 role being in the Middle East at the moment. 316 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:30,560 You spent you also spent a number of years as ambassador to 317 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:33,400 Syria, but clearly you're not in the basket at the moment because 318 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:35,080 there's been a regime change there. 319 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,760 So tell us a little bit about your experiences in Syria and 320 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,120 how you see that part of the world at the moment, and what do 321 00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:44,160 you perhaps see for the immediate future? 322 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:51,840 Yes, it's, it's quite complicated the situation in all 323 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:59,120 of the Middle East. You know, we Venezuela, as a 324 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:05,880 founder of OPEC, we have a very good relationship with all of 325 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:12,680 the countries in the West Asia or Middle East, as the people 326 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:15,360 used to say. We have a very strong 327 00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:18,680 relationship with the Gulf countries, with Syria, with 328 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:23,080 Lebanon. We have a very huge call Syria 329 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,280 and Lebanese community in Venezuela. 330 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:32,800 So our relationship is historical, you know, in the new 331 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:38,280 configuration of the world. That is maybe my personal 332 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:43,960 analysis about the situation. China has a key role, especially 333 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,520 in the economy, because the the the main, the, the control of 334 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,600 the United States around the world is the economy. 335 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,920 That is the way how they control the world. 336 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:59,320 Otherwise they they can't. And that is why Trump is focused 337 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:04,400 in the, in the tax, in the what is the Iran say less. 338 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:09,400 I forgot the word in English that he's trying to support 339 00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:15,480 everywhere. He put tariffs on, on China, on 340 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,800 on many countries. No, because he need, he need 341 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:25,840 the, the to keep the strong in the dollar, the force of the 342 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:29,880 dollar around the world. So China has a huge project, the 343 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:32,600 Silk and Road project, which is very important. 344 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:39,160 And this project goes from China to Africa, going throughout the 345 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:43,960 Middle East. If you see with Netanyahu, the 346 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,960 speech of Netanyahu one year ago in the UN, he was speaking, he 347 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:52,840 showed to Mark well, he spoke about the blessing and he spoke 348 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:58,800 about the every countries. The every countries was the 349 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:07,920 countries that maybe avoid the hegemony of United States in the 350 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:12,040 region. And the blessing are the 351 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:16,800 countries that support, I will not say which country because we 352 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:20,000 have a very good relationships or the the politics of US state 353 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,160 or they are a very strong ally of US state. 354 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:29,840 So just look the arrow that he showed on the map, he show an 355 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:35,120 arrow from the South of East Asia until Europe. 356 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:42,160 So if you see the arrow, there is a region that this arrow is 357 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:47,840 going through, which is Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. 358 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:51,560 So they need to control this region. 359 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:58,240 In order to write my personal opinion, Mike, in order to block 360 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:00,120 China, that is my personal opinion. 361 00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:04,720 In order to block China, to increase the influence of US and 362 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:09,960 UK in the region. Of course, the leadership of UK, 363 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:17,760 they ignore the history of the West Asia normally, but UK, the 364 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:24,520 leader of the UK, they know very well the the history of the West 365 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,480 Asia. That is why now they are playing 366 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,000 a very, I mean the UK administration. 367 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:36,480 They are playing a very important role around this 368 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:41,160 region to don't mention countries, no, but around very 369 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:45,320 close to to to this region. So what is the future of this 370 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:48,160 region? It's not clear in my opinion. 371 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:56,960 It's not clear, I don't think maybe you can you can conclude 372 00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:02,480 that Israel is winning the war because they killed leadership 373 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:06,720 like Nasser, Al Ali. They've lead, they've fallen 374 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:14,480 down Syrian regime after 54 years of the Baath Party regime. 375 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:21,840 So they they have killed some leadership of the of Hamas. 376 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:26,160 You can conclude that Israel is winning, but for me it's not 377 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:31,760 clear because how you can explain, for example, if you 378 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:38,840 have devastated the Gaza region, how you can explain that you 379 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:40,760 were not able to find the hostage? 380 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:50,160 How how you can explain that you start the war and you say the 381 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:56,200 the aim of the war is to end Hamas and take control of Gaza. 382 00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:01,240 And they didn't end Hamas and they didn't took the control of 383 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:04,480 of Gaza. So how they want this, this war? 384 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:14,320 I think the attack on Doha, on Qatar was the big trap for 385 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:19,680 Netanyahu. I don't know if you saw the 386 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:26,600 speech of Trump in the Knesset when he said he suggests the 387 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:31,880 president of Israel, you have to pardon the Prime Minister 388 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:35,240 Netanyahu. He has been the best Prime 389 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:38,720 Minister during the history, the world Prime Minister on the 390 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:41,040 history. So you have to pardon him. 391 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:45,640 He's exposing Netanyahu and see he say that. 392 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:51,920 And Trump, it's true that he's ignorant in the history, but 393 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,760 he's very smart in in politics. And I think he was exposing 394 00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:02,480 Netanyahu as he exposed the Maria Machado some days ago when 395 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:08,040 when he said, I don't know her, but she was quite nice when she 396 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:12,280 called, she called me. Of course he knows her, but he 397 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:15,440 wanted to send a message that she's nothing. 398 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:20,960 It's the same with Netanyahu. So what will happen in the next 399 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,680 years in the middle in, in the West Asia? 400 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,200 In my opinion, it's not, it's not clear. 401 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,200 It's not clear. You know, you have to know the 402 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:35,680 history of Syria. Syrian people, they will never 403 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:39,680 ever accept extremist government. 404 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:46,200 They they used to accept or they love the secular government. 405 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:52,440 They used to live in a multi confessional society during 406 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:57,280 many, many years. So it's so difficult, the 407 00:30:57,280 --> 00:31:02,840 situation in Syria right now. I don't know how the the new 408 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:06,960 regime will be able to manage this situation with the 409 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:12,720 extremist fighters, foreigners, fighters present in Syria, but 410 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:14,680 we'll see. It's not this. 411 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:18,040 Do you think the Syrian people will accept the new regime there 412 00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:20,920 on a long term basis and do you think they have any ability to 413 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:23,120 remove the extremist elements from the country? 414 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:27,200 It's, it's, it's quite difficult the situation because you know, 415 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:33,880 immediately after the falling down of the, the President 416 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:39,760 Bashar just, I was in Syria at that moment, immediately Israel 417 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,840 start to bombing all of the militant infrastructure. 418 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:48,280 So right now Syria doesn't have a strong defence system. 419 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:59,400 First of all, no, Secondly, they need now after 14 years of war, 420 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,600 the people is quite tired because the, the economy, 421 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,960 economy in Syria is completely devastated. 422 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,680 It's completely destroyed. I don't want to speak a lot 423 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:16,040 about Syria because my condition is just explaining what is 424 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,480 completely clear for everyone. So the economy is is, it is so 425 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:24,520 complicated right now. So the new government has a huge 426 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:31,840 challenge, first of all is to improve the economy because OK 427 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:41,440 West has offer or has done many, many offer the West to Syria. 428 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:48,280 But what is this offer? Where are the projects that they 429 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:52,200 are ready to support exactly with the Gulf countries? 430 00:32:52,200 --> 00:33:00,160 So they first of all, they need the stability and to, to, to 431 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:04,360 stabilise the stability in Syria right now, you need a big 432 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:10,240 reconciliation project between the society that is the, there 433 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:15,720 is very, very deep pain in the society in Syria. 434 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:19,680 So you have to work in and it's, it's a challenge, it's a big 435 00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:22,600 challenge. I'm sure that Syria is a, an 436 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:26,000 historical civilisation, it's struggle of civilisation. 437 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:29,040 So of course they will find a way, but it's not easy. 438 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,640 And what about Lebanon, because obviously Lebanon is threatened 439 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:35,480 North and South potentially. So do you think is there a 440 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:38,800 danger to Lebanon? In the coming months, We could 441 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:42,880 see attacks from the Syrian side of the border and even more 442 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:45,360 attacks from the Israeli side of the border. 443 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:51,080 No, I think the the treaty for for Lebanon is the same of the 444 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,680 Middle East. Is is Israel. 445 00:33:54,080 --> 00:34:02,080 Israel just bombed a few minutes ago I think I was reading some 446 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:08,120 news and they bombed it Has they have been bombed the South of 447 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:12,719 Lebanon in the last days. So the treatment for for Lebanon 448 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:16,960 is Israel the new government of Lebanon. 449 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:22,239 He is doing a a very good job in order to keep the unity of 450 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:25,800 Lebanon. There is a big treating to 451 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:34,639 Lebanon from the foreigner. If you read the the article, I 452 00:34:34,639 --> 00:34:40,480 don't know how to call this this article of the special envoy of 453 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:43,800 United States, Tom Barack about Lebanon and Syria. 454 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:47,639 You know, they speak as a king. No, they speak as a king. 455 00:34:47,639 --> 00:34:54,080 They give just ultimatum to to Lebanon government, to Syrian 456 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:56,880 government. They say what you have to say 457 00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:01,480 because otherwise you will get bombed, bombing by by Israel. 458 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:07,200 So I don't think the problem will be Syria. 459 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:11,280 I think the problem in Lebanon is Israel is clearly is right. 460 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:15,800 Coming back to Venezuela itself, what role does Venezuela have in 461 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:18,800 Latin America? And I'm just wondering what can 462 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:22,000 Venezuela do to provide any kind of stability, any kind of 463 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:23,720 counter to the sort of narratives that we're seeing 464 00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:26,440 from Western governments? Yes, you know, if you see the 465 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:31,040 position of the President Petro, the President of Colombia, 466 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:36,640 Gustavo Petro, or the position of the President of Brazil, Lula 467 00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,920 da Silva. In the last speech, they have 468 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:46,800 spoken a lot about the Venezuelan right to to live in 469 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:51,040 peace, to find the solution, to respect the sovereignty, the 470 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:56,640 self determination of Venezuela. They have spoken a lot, a lot 471 00:35:56,680 --> 00:36:02,600 about the the peace in the Caribbean Sea, in the Caribbean 472 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:08,520 regional, you know, we have around 2000 kilometre border 473 00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:14,840 between Colombia and Venezuela and we have around two 2200 474 00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:19,360 kilometres border with Brazil. So our border is huge. 475 00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:24,320 Any problem in Venezuela, of course, will affect immediately 476 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:29,160 Brazil and Colombia. The President Petro and the 477 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:34,520 President Lula, they speak because not all because they are 478 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:39,000 defending only Venezuela, but also they are preserving the 479 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:43,840 stability of their countries for Colombia and Brazil. 480 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:48,240 Any situation in Venezuela will affect all of South America, not 481 00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:54,800 only Brazil and Colombia, but also the rest of of not South 482 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:58,120 America, even the Caribbean under Central America. 483 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:04,600 Venezuela has a very important role, not only because they're a 484 00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,600 geographic location. Venezuela is in the north of 485 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:12,280 South America. So Venezuela is a kind of bridge 486 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:16,960 between South America and North America, first of all. 487 00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:26,920 Secondly, we have a big relationship with many, many 488 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:31,240 political groups in South America and Latin America in 489 00:37:31,240 --> 00:37:36,200 general. Don't forget that from the 490 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:40,640 moment when the President Chavez reached to the presidents of 491 00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:46,280 Venezuela, we start to work and to configure a kind of net 492 00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:49,960 political net around all of Latin America. 493 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:54,600 So of course the some government change from the left side to the 494 00:37:54,600 --> 00:38:01,320 right side, but we keep our relationship with the society. 495 00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:07,000 So any problem in Venezuela will affect all of the Latin America. 496 00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:14,320 I want to be very, very honest and very human by saying that 497 00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:17,120 it's not because we believe that we are very important to know. 498 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:24,160 It's because we have a very important role among among the 499 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:28,040 history of Latin America. So Venezuela is an important 500 00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:29,880 actor in Latin America, of course. 501 00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:33,680 And the United States knows very well that Trump, President 502 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:37,080 Trump, he knows very well the role of Venezuela. 503 00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:43,160 He said some days ago, now I have gave the green light for 504 00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:47,760 the CIA to act in Venezuela. The CIA is acting in Latin 505 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:52,080 America from 6078 years ago. No, it's not acting from, it's 506 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:58,720 not recent. So he's a kind of of a play of 507 00:38:58,720 --> 00:39:02,520 game to say that no, we are still acting against Venezuela, 508 00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:05,040 but he knows very well that there is a red line with 509 00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:06,000 Venezuela. OK. 510 00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:09,320 That's an interesting point. But obviously there've been a 511 00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:11,200 direct attacks over the last couple of weeks. 512 00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:14,480 And the question is, do you see this escalating from here on? 513 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:17,200 With Trump, you never know. With Trump, you never know. 514 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:23,320 He can change his mind just in 2 minutes, even though from one 515 00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:25,480 day to another day, even in just the means. 516 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,280 He said something, he had a meeting with the president of 517 00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:33,720 Argentina. He offered to him financial help 518 00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:37,240 and immediately the next day he said that Argentina is in a big 519 00:39:37,240 --> 00:39:40,760 problem, in a big troubles. So you'll never know what to 520 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:47,320 expect of Trump but you know they his bizarre when you see 521 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:53,200 that they are sending warships, submarines, missiles to the 522 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:57,320 Caribbean sea to bombing the small the small boat. 523 00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:01,720 So doesn't make sense. You're expending a huge amount 524 00:40:01,720 --> 00:40:04,600 of money just to bombing a small small boat. 525 00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:09,560 And something happened 2-3 days ago which is very interesting to 526 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:15,280 analyse. They bombed a boat and they were 527 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:20,320 able to cut 2 guys, one from Colombia and one from. 528 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:27,480 Ecuador, they sent back those guys to Ecuador and Colombia. 529 00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:32,360 We were we were looking for the background of the guy from 530 00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:35,240 Ecuador and the guy from Ecuador. 531 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:39,480 He was sentenced in United States five years ago. 532 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:46,680 No one or two years ago for five years for for drug traffic. 533 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:52,840 And then they sent back the guy, the Ecuador, the Ecuador guy to 534 00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:57,680 Ecuador. And immediately the governor, 535 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:05,800 the governor of Ecuador, Novoa, he gave him the freedom and this 536 00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:11,560 guy, they, he was catched recently by the US and they sent 537 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,080 back to Ecuador. Why is this? 538 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:18,520 It's quite bizarre. No, because he was judged in in 539 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:23,000 US state for for the traffic of drug. 540 00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:29,480 So you cut again this guy and you send back again to Ecuador. 541 00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:36,000 Ecuador again send him, put him out of the gaol. 542 00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:42,360 It's something strange. Now, I'll appreciate it if you 543 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:44,520 don't want to answer this question, but obviously there've 544 00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:48,320 been persistent allegations of CIA themselves being involved in 545 00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:51,080 drug trafficking. Do you think that that might 546 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:54,800 have might give us a hint as to why this guy was released? 547 00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:59,120 I will tell you my personal opinion about this operation of 548 00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:07,600 the of the Marco Rubio has a historic relationship with the 549 00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:10,360 the Nartos, especially from Colombia. 550 00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:16,040 No, one of the strongest ally is Uribe's Uribe. 551 00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:19,080 He was the president of Venezuela and he he is one of 552 00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:22,160 the biggest boss of the cartel in Colombia. 553 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:24,080 He's very strong ally of Marco Rubio. 554 00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:29,480 Marco Rubio has been financed by by the cartel. 555 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:35,080 What is my personal opinion? My personal opinion why they are 556 00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:40,960 sending ships, warships to the Caribbean if more than 85% of 557 00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:45,640 the drugs go to United States through the Pacific Ocean? 558 00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:53,560 The biggest drug producer is Colombia and the second biggest 559 00:42:53,560 --> 00:43:01,160 one are Ecuador and Peru. 100% of the drugs is is produced in 560 00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:06,080 Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. More than 85% of this drug goes 561 00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:08,960 to the United States through the Pacific Ocean. 562 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:14,480 So why you are sending the the warships and this operative all 563 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:18,960 big operation to the Caribbean? In my opinion, they want to 564 00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:23,200 control the business. So they want to warrant that the 565 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:27,520 drug reach United States throughout the Pacific Ocean. 566 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:30,480 That is the first, the first objective of Marco Rubio. 567 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:34,680 That is why I, I say from at the beginning that this operation is 568 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:37,120 supported mainly by Marcos Rubio. 569 00:43:38,120 --> 00:43:44,840 And, and the second thing I say again, my personal opinion, this 570 00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:50,080 is a trap from Marco Rubio to Trump, because Trump ignore what 571 00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:53,920 is happening in Venezuela, he ignore what is happening in 572 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:58,560 Colombia, in Ecuador or in Peru. Marcos Rubio is taking advantage 573 00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:04,160 from his Cuban origin. He speak Spanish very fluently. 574 00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:11,640 So he's taking advantage of this to put Trump in a trouble with 575 00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:16,040 Latin American and in my opinion is a big trouble. 576 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:20,200 But Trump, he knows also what he's doing. 577 00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:25,360 He he he is ignorant of the history, but he is smart again. 578 00:44:25,840 --> 00:44:29,680 OK, well, our time is almost up. I'd like to say a massive thank 579 00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:32,600 you for speaking to me today. That's been a hugely interesting 580 00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:34,640 conversation. I hope we can do this again at 581 00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:37,240 some point in the future. But if people want to find out 582 00:44:37,240 --> 00:44:40,200 more about Venezuela, is there somewhere that they can go to 583 00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:42,200 get information about the country, which is a little more 584 00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:44,840 objective than we get from the Western media? 585 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,280 It's difficult. It's difficult to get 586 00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:54,680 information normally. It's so difficult because even 587 00:44:54,680 --> 00:45:00,200 if you look for YouTube, for example, let's say one, one 588 00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:04,440 example, biggest one of the biggest social media like 589 00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:09,520 YouTube, they block the the channel of the president Maduro, 590 00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:14,320 they block the channel of the minister of interior, Gonzalo 591 00:45:14,320 --> 00:45:17,800 Cabelloso. They shadow ban all of the 592 00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:22,480 information. So the best source is just to to 593 00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:26,120 look for the information coming from the Venezuelan government 594 00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:29,080 because we are objective. For example, I was speaking with 595 00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:32,000 some friend this morning with ambassadors, friend of of me. 596 00:45:32,720 --> 00:45:36,800 They say what is your why you don't sell oil to United States? 597 00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:39,480 Say come on, we are sending oil to United States. 598 00:45:39,680 --> 00:45:42,720 We don't have any problem with for sending oil to United 599 00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:44,840 States, but they have to pay the oil. 600 00:45:45,160 --> 00:45:48,200 The problem is that if United States want to get the oil for 601 00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:50,480 free, they will not get the oil for free. 602 00:45:51,080 --> 00:45:57,200 And if they give a, they gave a licence to Chevron, if they gave 603 00:45:57,200 --> 00:46:02,440 a licence to Shell, which is Auka British company to explode 604 00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:05,360 the gas between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. 605 00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:10,800 So we don't have any problem of sending oil to United States or 606 00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:15,000 to anywhere else. But you have to pay if you for 607 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:19,160 for free, you will not get it. So it's just a big manipulation 608 00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:23,960 about the information. So to tell you yes, to tell you 609 00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:27,920 where we can find information mics is so difficult. 610 00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:34,160 Maybe I will. I will put some some web page in 611 00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:40,120 in my source, in my my post, in my eggs, in my Instagram to tell 612 00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:42,560 the people. Please if you want to see 613 00:46:42,560 --> 00:46:46,760 information, write information about Venezuela, look this web 614 00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:49,480 page. Well, let's see, let's see what 615 00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:51,800 happens when we put this interview on YouTube and see how 616 00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:56,480 long it stays on there for. Thank you again very much for 617 00:46:57,040 --> 00:46:59,600 joining me today, Jose. That's been a hugely interesting 618 00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:02,280 conversation and I hope we can speak again soon. 619 00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:06,200 No, thank you. Thank you Michael for this 620 00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:10,240 opportunity and whatever you want or your staff, your people, 621 00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:14,400 I am ready to to to bring the, the true Venezuela.