On Foreign Minister Maduro's reaction to Hillary's Globovisión interview
Dear
Minister of the Popular Power for Foreign Relations of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro:
I
would like first of all to thank you for having favorably received,
toward the end of last year, my opinions regarding the restablishment
of diplomatic relations with the United States of America, as also
did the team of the then President elect of that country, Barack
Obama. On behalf of many Venezuelans and of many U.S. citizens of
both Hispanic and Anglo descent, I sincerely value your efforts to
improve the relationship between both governments.
In the
United States there has certainly been a misunderstanding not only
about the Venezuelan reality, but also about the reality in the rest
of the planet until quite recently. The acceleration of globalization
during the last two decades; however, has already started reversing
their unawareness for all things foreign. Every time more U.S.
citizens learn languages such as Spanish or Chinese and submit their
passport applications in order to travel to foreign countries. The
most recent example of this learning process can actually be seen on
the Globovisión news network interview to U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton, who documented herself before the interview,
learn the exact date of our independence and congratulated us for our
most important national holiday at the beginning of her interview. I
consider this detail as friendly toward our country.
The
U.S. Secretary of State explicitly acknowledges the right that
Venezuela and other countries have to maintain relations with other
nations, particularly with Iran and Cuba. What she clarifies is that
there are issues on Venezuelan foreign policy that the United States
do not agree with. Similarly, the Venezuelan government emits
opinions against or in favor of specific actions regarding U.S.
foreign policy. Both nations sovereignly have spaces to emit either
their support or opposition toward a number of issues in foreign
policy. Furthermore, in the United States they could argue that in
Venezuela continues the generations old practice of discrediting
anything that may come from the United States democracy.
I
agree with all of you that is is quite difficult to believe in the
sincerity of the intentions to restore any bilateral relationship as
so many previous misunderstandings persist. However, as the
legitimate diplomats representing all Venezuelans, including those
who openly sympathize with the U.S. institutions and economic and
technological achievements, and also those who amply question them,
you at the Ministry of the Popular Power for the External Relations
of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela have the duty of not being
afraid to the negotiations that you are undertaking with the U.S.
authorities. You have the duty to clarify which kinds of future
signals from the United States would not be qualified as awkward and
aggressive towards Venezuela, Latin America and the Caribbean.
We
maintain the hope that once more frequent clarifications and
amendments are proactively established among both parties, we will
approach the common objective that you seek: “for the good of the
relationship bewteen the government of the United States and the
Bolivarian government of Venezuela.”