During a virtual summit with heads of state of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), Ortega told Maduro not to rule out a civil war in Venezuela, like the one fought in Nicaragua in the 1980s of the last century, in the middle of the Cold War.
“I want to alert Nicolás, and I’m sure you already have thought, analyzed and prepared (…), as they (the Venezuelan opposition) have already failed at this maneuver (of reversing the electoral results), and there is no turning back, no step back ; Nicolás is the legitimate president.” They could now take up arms, as happened here, said the Sandinista leader.
According to Ortega, Colombia could be the scene of a Venezuelan “counterrevolution” because of the extensive border it shares with Venezuela, and where the United States has military bases.
The Nicaraguan president commented that he does not see Colombian President Gustavo Petro “feeding” that possible “mercenary army,” but he does see other former rulers, among whom he mentioned Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) and Iván Duque (2018-2022).
“There are Yankee military bases (in Colombia), and, therefore, do not rule it out, because imperialism today is more wounded than ever by this victory (in Venezuela). Do not rule out their ability to organize an armed counterrevolution, like those that were organized against us during the first Sandinista Government,” he said. continue reading
In that scenario, Ortega said that the “battle” in Venezuela “would be much greater” than the one that took place in Nicaragua, “because it involves the Colombian Army, Colombian mercenaries, Colombian murderers and Colombian drug traffickers.”
Therefore, the Sandinista leader advised Maduro to “prepare to fight the battle and defeat them, because I am sure that if that battle occurs you will win.”
“And rest assured that if that battle happens, you will have Sandinista fighters accompanying you in that battle,” he offered. “And I am sure that just as thousands of (foreign) fighters joined the battle of Nicaragua against (Anastasio) Somoza (Debayle), thousands of Latin American and Caribbean fighters will also join the defense of the Bolivarian revolution,” he added.
In addition, Ortega says he broke relations with Brazil and called his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, “a lackey,” who wanted to be the “representative of the Yankees” in Latin America.
Lula is one of the presidents of Latin America who had a “brutal and “cowardly reaction” for not recognizing Maduro’s triumph
The Sandinista leader said that Lula is one of the presidents of Latin America who had a “brutal and cowardly reaction” for not recognizing Maduro’s triumph, and that he is part of the other “servile, traitorous, lackey governments. Brazil has presented itself as very progressive and very revolutionary. Now it says that the elections have to be repeated (in Venezuela). I say ’Brazil’ meaning Lula,” he reproached.
Ortega said that Lula “in a shameful way” is “repeating the slogans of the Yankees, the Europeans and the lackey governments of Latin America.”
“You’re a lackey, too, Lula! You’re groveling, too, Lula!” exclaimed Ortega, who also criticized the Brazilian president’s previous government management. He recalled that in Lula’s first Administration, “uproars” of corruption such as “the Lava Jato scandals”* broke out.
“Remember all that (…). Apparently it was not a very transparent Government, not very clean. Remember, Lula, and I could tell you a dozen more things,” he continued. “If you want me to respect you, respect me, Lula. If you want the Bolivarian people to respect you, respect the victory of President Nicolás Maduro and don’t be a lackey,” he added.
On August 8, the Brazilian ambassador to Nicaragua, Breno de Souza Brasil Días da Costa, left the country after being expelled by the Ortega Government, according to the official version, for not attending the celebration of the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution on July 19. In reciprocity, the Government of Brazil decided to expel the ambassador of Nicaragua, Fulvia Castro.
“And since being president of the great country that is Brazil, you have wanted to become a representative of the Yankees in Latin America”
In the past, Lula had a close relationship with Ortega when the Brazilian leader traveled to Managua in 1980 for the first anniversary of the Sandinista revolution, an occasion on which he also personally met the Cuban president, Fidel Castro.
In recent months, however, the relationship has deteriorated, especially due to the “political persecution” that the Government of Managua maintains on former Sandinistas and religious leaders.
Lula himself explained the situation last month, at a press conference with foreign correspondents in Brasilia, in which he revealed that Ortega has not answered his phone since Pope Francis asked him (Lula) to advocate for a bishop detained in Nicaragua.
In this regard, Ortega confirmed that he did not answer Lula’s phone call because to receive a message from the Vatican, which he said is a State “in favor of the Empire,” the Holy See should communicate directly with him. “We don’t need intermediaries. We didn’t ask Lula to be an intermediary. We didn’t answer Lula, and he got upset,” he said.
Lula regretted that this happened with “a guy who made a revolution like the one Ortega did to defeat Somoza,” and said that today he does not know “if that revolution was because he wanted power or because he wanted to improve the life of his people.”
In this regard, Ortega said that if he is a dictator, then so is Lula: “What could Lula say, since he has said this publicly, and how many times has he been in power? Already for two terms. That is, it seems he likes being President.”
“And from the presidency of the great country that is Brazil, you want to become a representative of the Yankees in Latin America,” he added.
Ortega explained by saying, “that’s why we broke off relations with Brazil,” because although Nicaragua is a small country, “we have dignity.”
Ortega sees Gustavo Petro “competing” with Lula to be the “representative” of the United States in Latin America
Ortega sees Gustavo Petro “competing” with Lula to be the “representative” of the United States in Latin America.
“Petro, what can I say about Petro? Poor Petro, poor Petro. I see Petro as competing with Lula to see who will be the leader to represent the Yankees in Latin America,” said the Sandinista leader.
Lula and Petro insisted on Saturday on the need to publish the electoral results, “broken down by polling station,” after the endorsement of Maduro’s victory by the Supreme Court of Venezuela, of which they “took note.”
“Both presidents remain convinced that the credibility of the electoral process can only be restored through the transparent publication of disaggregated and verifiable data,” according to a joint statement from both countries.
Lula and Petro agreed on a common position on the Venezuelan electoral process after telephone conversations held on Friday and Saturday, according to information released by the Brazilian Presidency.
The two heads of state reaffirmed that “the political normalization of Venezuela” must acknowledge “that there is no lasting alternative to peaceful dialogue and democratic coexistence in diversity.” They also called on “all those involved to avoid resorting to acts of violence and repression.”
“Today I can’t tell you the exact moment in which we are going to achieve victory, but yes, with absolute conviction, I tell you that the destiny of this fight is the liberation of Venezuela”
On the other hand, Lula and Petro “took note” of the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela to validate Maduro’s victory in the presidential elections of July 28, questioned by much of the international community. In this sense, they reiterated that they “are still waiting” for the publication, by the National Electoral Council (CNE), of “the tally sheets, broken down by polling station.”
The CNE proclaimed Maduro the winner without having published the disaggregated results, while the largest opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), said that Edmundo González Urrutia won the contest by a wide margin.
The declaration of both countries was expected after the statement released on Friday by eleven American countries (Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the United States, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay), in which they rejected the Supreme Court’s endorsement of Maduro. The governments of these eleven countries questioned the ruling of the Venezuelan court and warned of its “lack of independence and impartiality.”
However, Brazil and Colombia did assess the Supreme Court’s ruling and instead insisted that they “keep their channels of communication with the parties open,” and they reinforced “their willingness to facilitate understanding between them.”
“Our tactics are so diverse that they will not be able to contain them, and we will act with precision so that they cannot prevent our advance”
For her part, the anti-Chavista leader María Corina Machado said on Monday that “the end of the regime of horror is approaching” in Venezuela, where “a new phase of the opposition strategy” has begun, in order to “substantiate the victory” obtained by Edmundo González Urrutia.
“Today I cannot tell you the exact moment in which we are going to achieve victory, but yes, with absolute conviction, I tell you that the destiny of this struggle is the liberation of Venezuela, the construction of a luminous country where we can live well, with dignity,” she said in an audio published on YouTube.
In that sense, she called on Venezuelans to prepare for “a new way of organizing and mobilizing in the street” that, she explained, will be “highly” effective to run “the least possible risk.”
“Our tactics are so diverse that they will not be able to contain them, and we will act with precision so that they cannot prevent our advance,” said the former deputy, who again denounced a “criminal repression,” especially after the last elections.
She added that Maduro and “his criminal environment,” after the “overwhelming and indisputable victory” of González Urrutia, sought to “justify their fraud” through the TSJ, whose Electoral Chamber validated the re-election of Maduro for a third consecutive six-year term in power.
“Nicolás Maduro reached the end of his path, he lost all contact with reality, they do not understand anything that is happening in Venezuela,” said Machado, the main champion of González Urrutia.
The PUD called for a demonstration on August 28, a month after the elections, against electoral “fraud” and to insist on the triumph it grants its standard bearer based on “83.5% of the tally sheets” collected the night of the vote by witnesses and poll workers, documents that the Government describes as “false.” Later, the Government also called for street events that same day, but to celebrate the controversial re-election of Maduro.
“We have witnessed a conspiracy of the public authorities to hatch a plot of complicity to prevent public access to the results”
Meanwhile, the traditional leaders of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) warned on Monday about what they consider a conspiracy of state institutions – “openly controlled” by the Government – against the will expressed in the July 28 elections, whose official result gave the victory to President Nicolás Maduro.
The PCV, a group influenced by the TSJ, pointed out that the Court is not impartial, and, therefore, its confirmation of Maduro’s re-election does not clear doubts or resolve complaints about transparency made to the CNE.
The validation issued by the TSJ “is a new demonstration of the existence of a conspiracy woven from the high spheres of political and economic power against the Constitution and popular sovereignty expressed in the vote,” the Party said in a press release.
In this way, they reiterated their demand for the CNE to publish the disaggregated results that confirm Maduro’s victory, as expected in the election schedule, although the TSJ ruled last Thursday, that it will keep the voting records under protection.
“We have witnessed a conspiracy of the public authorities to hatch a plot of complicity that, through pseudo-legal processes, prevents public access to the results printed in the tally sheets and to the boxes where the physical vote of each voter is protected,” the communists continue.
In addition, they condemned the fact that the TSJ ruling “is used as a justification to expand the repression,” in reference to the protests and police operations after the elections that have left a total of 25 deaths and more than 2,400 detainees, according to State sources.
For all of the above, the PCV asks the Prosecutor’s Office to carry out “the relevant investigations to determine the responsibilities of the electoral body,” since it “did not fulfill its functions by refusing to publish the results broken down by table and by suspending subsequent audits.”
*Translator’s note: Operação Lava Jeto, or Operation Jet Wash, investigated corruption in Brazil’s government in 2014. Lula was convicted of money laundering and spent 580 days in jail. His conviction was nullified in 2021 by the Supreme Court. Lula ran again for President in 2022 and was granted a third term.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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