President Maduro on Meeting with U.S. Delegation

During President Nicolas Maduro’s extended meeting with the Council of Vice Presidents and the Military High Command, the President remarked on his meeting with U.S. government officials who traveled to Venezuela on Saturday. Below is a quick transcription of a part of President Maduro’s Monday remarks.

I would also like to comment that last Saturday night, a delegation from the government of the United States of America arrived in Venezuela. I received them here in the Presidential Palace, as delegations from governments of the world and especially from the government of the United States have been received on other occasions.

As Foreign Minister, I was tasked with receiving delegations from the Government of the United States together with President Chavez here. As President I’ve received delegations from the US government and Congress on several occasions. Now a new opportunity has arisen and a delegation has arrived. We had a meeting. I could qualify it as respectful, cordial, very diplomatic, between the delegation of the US government and the delegation of the Venezuelan government that I preside over. We held it in the main presidential office, in office number one.

The flags of the United States and Venezuela were there, and the two flags were beautifully united, as the flags of the United States and Venezuela should be. We spent almost two hours talking. I was accompanied by Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, world champion of dialogue, and my wife Cilia Flores. They both knew all the details of everything that was discussed, topics of interest that we have agreed to work on in an agenda going forward, topics of interest.

I thought it was very important to be able, face to face, to discuss issues of maximum interest for Venezuela and the world. And I ratify, as I said to the delegation, all our will, from diplomacy, from respect and from the highest hope for a better world. We will be able to advance an agenda that will allow for the well-being and peace of the peoples, of our hemisphere, of our region, of the whole of America, of Latin America and the Caribbean.

That is the main message of an important meeting. Dr. Jorge Rodriguez will surely give details in the next few days in a press conference so that he can be asked all the necessary questions. The talks, the coordination and a positive agenda between the government of the United States and the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela will continue.

Starting Saturday, well, it began on social media. What you could call a news swarm. A news hysteria on social media. This version and that version saying I don’t know who was called, or who was not called. That this was said, that that wasn’t said, Reuters comes out. Reuters journalists write as if they had been at the meeting. The AP journalist, as if he lived in my house with me. Lying. All the versions that have come out: Pure lies, pure speculation.

No need for that. We stick to the truth. We stick to goodwill, to good diplomacy and to a good sense of reality, to advance peace in our region and in the world. The issues that were discussed, were discussed, the issues that were agreed upon were agreed upon.

And well, we will move forward. Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, you are authorized to speak at length about this conversation.

Quick transcription and translation by Kawsachun News