Before leading a march to commemorate the events of April 13, 2002, the general secretary of the Psuv, Diosdado Haircriticized, in a press conference, the demand for “elections now” by the majority opposition led by María Corina Machado.
“Now and what elections now. The elections will be when they are and we will be prepared. They ask for elections and the absolute absence of Maduro, but didn’t they say that Edmundo won? How are they going to ask for an absolute absence if Maduro is not president? It is the same lying opposition. Practice coherence, it is free advice,” Cabello said.
Ironically, he asked the opposition what they are going to do with former diplomat Edmundo González, who, according to 85% of the voting records released by the Venezuela Command, defeated Nicolás Maduro with 67% of the vote compared to 30%.
“What are they going to do with that man? Do they throw it down the drain? Well, they threw it away a long time ago; but agree because, they said he was the president of Venezuela,” he stressed.
“They didn’t go out to march”
Accompanied by the national leadership of the Psuv, Cabello also referred to the workers’ march on April 9who proposed to reach Miraflores to demand an immediate increase in the minimum wage and pensions.
“They didn’t go out to march, they went out to create disturbances; but we didn’t give them what they wanted because they expected something else. Nothing and no one is going to take us off our route,” he warned.
He too Minister of the Interior and Justice omitted the repression recorded and reported in the center of Caracas, by officials of the Bolivarian National Police and groups affected by Chavismo against the protesters, among whom were elderly people (pensioners). The National Union of Press Workers (Sntp) reported attacks on 10 workers, including journalists, photographers and cameramen.
It is worth remembering that the police cordon, the presence of groups and a Chavismo concentration near Miraflores, led by Cabello, once again hindered the protest of the union movement this April 9. On March 23, a march of workers proposed to reach the Parque Carabobo to the Ministry of Labor, located in Plaza Caracas, but Chavismo prevented it.
Immediately afterwards, Cabello added: “The amnesty is for events that occurred, not for occurring; the game is zero to zero”, he warned those who in his opinion try to generate violence in the streets.
Likewise, he dismissed the complaints of relatives of political prisoners of the Rodeo Yo about torture in said facility following a protest by inmates over mistreatment. He stated that it is a “hate campaign against Venezuela” and reproached an ambassador, whose name he did not reveal, for replicating the versions, having as his only source what the Venezuelan media reports.
“If that had happened in that country, they would kill them all; that ambassador is very irresponsible, he knows who he is. He said that this happens because they don’t let them visit them (the political prisoners), they are guided by the media,” he added.
Invites the Church to the pilgrimage
Cabello ratified the call made by the governor in charge, Delcy Rodriguezto a pilgrimage throughout the country, from April 19 to May 1, to demand the end of international sanctions and for “peace.” The government in charge blames the “blockade” for the fact that salary improvements could not be made. Despite this, the interim promised a “responsible increase” for International Workers’ Day, although he did not specify whether it was the minimum wage or some bonus.
The minister indicated that, in addition to the PSUV, workers affiliated with Chavismo, farmers, fishermen and entrepreneurs, among others, will join. He invited the Catholic hierarchy, which he recalled supported the coup d’état against Chávez in 2002 and currently the sanctions, to join the pilgrimage and to ask for the end of the blockade and peace in their masses.
