PRESIDENT VENEZUELA MADURO CALLS ASSAD FOR SUPPORT
Damascus, 22 Dhul Qa’ida 1434/ 28 September 2013 (MINA) – President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday received a telephone call from President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela who expressed solidarity of the Venezuelan people and their support to Syria in the face of the war it carries on against terrorism.
During the phone call, the two Presidents exchanged viewpoints on the latest developments in Syria, SANA reported as monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
President Maduro renewed support for finding a political solution to the crisis in Syria, rejecting any form of foreign intervention, particularly the threats of launching military aggression on the Syrian people.
He affirmed that Syria’s steadfastness, as people and army, is now changing the map of international balances.
President al-Assad, for his part, thanked President Maduro and the Venezuelan people for their stance in solidarity with the Syrian people, stressing that this stance boosts the fraternal, consolidated relations which gather the two friendly peoples who stand, each in its region, in the face of attempts to dominate the independence of the two countries’ decisions.
Venezuela has been the first country in the region to react to U-S intervention in Syria The Venezuelan leader, who demonstrated strong diplomatic skills during his six years as foreign minister under late President Hugo Chavez, says he hopes that other neighboring countries will demonstrate their distress as well. Bank in home, Maduro’s supporters have welcomed his petition to Washington warmly.
President Maduro’s opposition meanwhile claims that the president has other motives in challenging the United States. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles has stated that the letter was an attempt at distract Venezuelans from other problems such as a near-recession economy, chronic shortages and the world’s third highest murder rate.
Venezuela itself has a large Syrian expatriate population. An example is a Venezuelan left-wing member of the Congress of Syrian origin, who was recently granted permission by parliament to take time away from his congressional duties to fight alongside President Assad’s forces in Syria.
President Maduro’s stance on the international debate over a possible military strike on Syria has become a subject of discussion in Venezuela. While critics say Maduro might be using the issue to antagonize Washington again, his successful track record as an international diplomat makes most Venezuelans confident that their President is not going to remain silent about such an important international issue.
Nicolas Maduro has also sent a letter to the US President Barack Obama in order to urge him to stop any kind of war preparations against Syria and to forget about the military strike on Damascus because of the dire consequences of such a possible military action on Syria for the Syrian people and even for the entire region of the Middle East.
The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro further called upon the US administration of Barack Obama in Washington to resort to peaceful and political measures and not to carry out any kind of military actions against the Syrian government in Damascus. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro also affirmed the position of his country in regards of a possible US-led strike on Syria in his letter to the US President in Washington. The letter by the President of Venezuela said that the country will join the side which rejects a military attack by Washington against the Syrian nation. ( T/P04/P03)
Mi’raj News Agency(MINA)
