The renowned journalist, Ignacio Ramonet, interviews the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. This is the tenth time that Ignacio Ramonet has interviewed the Venezuelan president on January 1st.
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00:00:00Mr. President, allow me first to wish you a happy New Year's, and thank you.
00:00:23And on the other hand, to thank you for accepting to doing this interview, which is the 10th
00:00:29interview since we started with these first-year meetings, which are a classic already.
00:00:38Last week an article came out in France, for example, in a weekly, and making an article
00:00:44against me, and in particular focus on the fact that I am the journalist who interviews
00:00:48you every January 1st.
00:00:51So they are afraid of the interview?
00:00:53Yes, because it's a very frank conversation, to tell the truth, that covers them.
00:00:59An interview to tell the truth, they cover up, thus you can review those 10 interviews,
00:01:0510 consecutive years, what we said about the year that passed, and the projections of the
00:01:10coming year.
00:01:12What has been done too, and each time these interviews have also a character that allows
00:01:17you to make a balance of the year that finished, and open perspectives on the new year.
00:01:24To those who do not like the debate to open, then we open a debate.
00:01:28We like the debate a lot, the debate of ideas, the battle for truth against so much manipulation.
00:01:35Therefore, I am the one who thanks you for opening me this window of opportunity.
00:01:40When we started, these interviews had been issued on paper.
00:01:45It was another century, another world, and now these interviews run very hard on the
00:01:51known social media and platforms.
00:01:54President, the interview is going to be like every year, this time divided into four parts.
00:02:02We are going to talk about domestic politics, the very important topic, also the economy,
00:02:08a fundamental topic.
00:02:09We are going to talk about technology and society, precisely because of what you just
00:02:14said about social networks.
00:02:17And we will end up by talking about international politics, correct?
00:02:21So, I wanted to start with the question about democracy in Venezuela.
00:02:28In Venezuela, the year 2024, the year that just ended, has been a very electoral year.
00:02:33There have been presidential elections on July 28th.
00:02:37There was also the referendum for the Guayana Esequiba.
00:02:40There was also the popular consultation on August 25th on participatory budgets.
00:02:48There was also the election of the judges of peace in the communes.
00:02:51And also, this year that begins, there will be local and regional elections.
00:02:59There will be also a whole set of parliamentary elections.
00:03:02In other words, Venezuela, since 25 years ago, when the Bolivarian Revolution began,
00:03:08has been characterized by the high intensity of these elections.
00:03:13But recently, you have said that you are thinking of an eventual constitutional reform to inject
00:03:17more democracy in Venezuela.
00:03:23So I consider that there is already enough democracy.
00:03:28What do you think is necessary to add to the Venezuelan democracy?
00:03:31Well, indeed, there are several issues.
00:03:33First of all, the account given now that the constitution turned 25 years on December 15th
00:03:43is very auspicious, very positive, because despite so many conspiracies and so many
00:03:51attempts of coup d'etat that we were able to reverse in April 2002 of the economic war
00:04:00in different phases of the psychological cognitive war, of the national, international, political
00:04:08war, we have been able to see blooming the main proposal of the 1999 constitution, the
00:04:17construction of a participatory and leading democracy.
00:04:22It was said by that time at the end of the 90s, Commander Chavez began to work on the
00:04:27idea of overcoming the old exhausted democracy of parties, representative democracy, because
00:04:39supposedly being a democracy, well, it is without the democracy, well, it is a great
00:04:46limitation truly to the one who is the owner of the sovereignty of the power, which is
00:04:50the sovereign people.
00:04:51And we can say that the ideas and proposals of 25 years ago were fulfilled widely and fully.
00:04:59We have had 31 constitutional elections, 31 elections, regular, permanent, on due time,
00:05:12and flawless elections, presidential elections held on due time despite all the wars and
00:05:21blockades.
00:05:22There have never been excuses to postpone any presidential election, elections for governorates
00:05:29and legislative councils, which is the state power, elections for mayors and municipal
00:05:34councils, municipal power.
00:05:37We have had seven referendums, including the referendum of the Guayana Sequiba to address
00:05:45key fundamental issues.
00:05:46We have to recall a referendum that was very significant in 2007 for a constitutional reform,
00:05:53which we lost by 20,000 votes, and we immediately recognized the result.
00:05:58We have to remember the referendum of February 2009 to make an amendment to the constitution,
00:06:05because in Venezuela, you cannot change a single comma, dot word of the constitution
00:06:10without bringing it to the referendum.
00:06:12It is a constitutional mandate and a constitutional right of the people.
00:06:18Now beyond that, Commander Chavez initiated in 2006, 2007, the construction of a direct
00:06:26popular democracy with the foundation of the first communal councils, then the development
00:06:33of the concept of commune, which is adding the communal councils and giving the neighbors
00:06:38of the power of self-government.
00:06:42We have strongly resumed the idea of direct democracy, of neighborhood community democracy.
00:06:50In this case, the construction of what our people call a new communal state, a new modern
00:06:55state within the idea of Bolivarian socialist modernity of the 21st century, not within
00:07:03the idea of the failed modernity of the Western world, not of post-modernity, which was a
00:07:11critique of modernity.
00:07:13In this case, we are trying to build up a new concept from the constitution of 1999,
00:07:20and the results have been and are extraordinary.
00:07:23This year, in the year 2024, we have done three direct consultations with communities,
00:07:33two consultations for projects, for allocating budgets for community projects, which were
00:07:41decided, defined, planned, voted, and approved by the popular vote that I describe as direct,
00:07:49secret, broad, majoritarian.
00:07:51This involved the approval of thousands and thousands of neighborhood projects to solve
00:08:00many times acute problems that the bureaucratism of the old state does not address, does not
00:08:10sort out.
00:08:11I was a witness in a region called Guatira, here in the state of Miranda, of a project
00:08:18of a containment wall for a main access road to a productive area in the route of La Margarina.
00:08:26And how they were asking the mayor there for years, the containment wall, because all the
00:08:32access road was going to fall, and the mayor never gave them an answer.
00:08:38And we, the community, in one of the consultations, the first one approved the project, the direct
00:08:45resource was allocated around $10,000, that is equivalent of $10,000, and the community
00:08:51has built up the wall in just four months.
00:08:55They made the wall in a fantastic way.
00:08:58It was completed, a safe wall, and they had money left to repair a medical center and
00:09:03to recover a school, which shows you that direct democracy, neighborhood democracy,
00:09:10with the participation of the people's eye, is infinitely higher, much more efficient
00:09:16than the old and obtuse bourgeois worn-out state, which we still have out there, which
00:09:23is like a strange coexistence between that old state, which does not end up solving problems
00:09:31locally, and that tell your strength of a new state that is emerging from the foundations.
00:09:40We also did, at the end of the year, on December 15th, a beautiful experiment, because the
00:09:48National Assembly approved the organic law of communal peace justice, and they were elected
00:09:55in Venezuela with a direct popular vote, 15,000 justices and peace justices of the territory
00:10:04of the neighbors, 15,000 principals, 15,000 substitutes.
00:10:11This is not disseminated in the world, because in the world, what interests them is to repeat
00:10:16that there is a dictatorship in Venezuela, that there is no democracy, and that the only
00:10:21democracy that exists is their democracy.
00:10:23From the north, from the west, this degraded, decomposed collective empire, and already
00:10:29in the final stage of decadence, and not to say that here in the south, in the global
00:10:36south, in South America, there is an experience that has been born, beautiful, of popular
00:10:41democracy, direct democracy, the democracy of the neighbors.
00:10:45So we have had a wonderful time to prove that it is possible to build up another way of
00:10:52doing politics, that is possible, necessary, and urgent for humanity to propose new models.
00:10:59And from there, from that debate, a very powerful proposal emerged.
00:11:05It has been very well received by the entire Venezuelan society that from January 2025,
00:11:12we advance towards a constitutional reform that democratizes the entire state, that democratizes
00:11:18the entire society, and that advances towards a process of strengthening a new way of doing
00:11:24politics of a new democracy.
00:11:27That is where it is headed for, and also with the dialogue method that is inclusive, I am
00:11:34making up a special team of, we could say, experts, advisors, counselors.
00:11:44I am focused on the forms of consultations to the popular power that we apply so much
00:11:51permanently, and also a group of advisors, international counselors, who have offered
00:11:58themselves to support us, and very soon...
00:12:01To translate into law, to a certain extent?
00:12:04Yes, because the constitutional reform, to be valid, a project has to be made first.
00:12:12The reform has to go to the National Assembly, the legislative power of Venezuela, the parliament,
00:12:19the only one that exists in Venezuela, the parliament elected by the people in 2020.
00:12:24Once the parliament approves a project, that project has to go to the streets, to the people,
00:12:31to the debate, to the referendum, and the one that has the last word in Venezuela to
00:12:35approve the reform, to change the constitution, is the sovereign, it is the direct democracy,
00:12:41it is the people.
00:12:43And Mr. President, the whole world at this moment is looking forward to two takeovers
00:12:51that will take place in the next few days.
00:12:55On one hand, that of the elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, in Washington,
00:13:01that will take place on January 20th, and yours, which will take place in a few days
00:13:08on January 10th.
00:13:10Now, the question is, how do you explain that for so many international observers, there
00:13:17is the same interest between the takeover in the first power of the world and the change
00:13:26of command, which in this case does not occur because you have been re-elected, in Venezuela?
00:13:32What does Venezuela have in particular to be the center of global attention?
00:13:39Because there is a dispute over the control and domain of Venezuela.
00:13:45Venezuela was the axis of the anti-colonialist, independentist struggles exactly 200 years
00:13:53ago.
00:13:54Here we have with us the sword, the saber, liberator of Carabobo, with which the liberator
00:14:04Simon Bolivar led on June 24, 1821, the victorious battle that made the Spanish Imperial Army
00:14:11retreat from lands of today's Venezuelan territories.
00:14:15Here we have with us the sword that the people of Lima gave them, the poor people of Lima,
00:14:21the indigenous people, the artisans, to declare Bolivar their liberator, their saver.
00:14:27These are two swords of great symbolic importance in our history, of great significance.
00:14:34Likewise, here we have a dagger that belonged to the great Marshal of Ayacucho, the winner
00:14:42200 years ago in Ayacucho, who ended up expelling the imperial armies of Europe and Spain from
00:14:49this territory, from South America.
00:14:53All these symbols, the gun of the liberator Antonio José de Sucre, mark with great strength
00:15:02the struggles that we are waging nowadays.
00:15:06It must be said, President, that we are in the presidential office.
00:15:09Yes, this is office number one of the Miraflores Palace, which is a house, the house of the
00:15:15people, and precisely these symbols accompany us daily, permanently, and it is a permanent
00:15:23reminder, Ramón, of where we come from, of what our project is, of where all the strength
00:15:30and energy of ours for the 21st century comes from.
00:15:34So look, the empire believed that in 2024 it could make a definite coup in Venezuela,
00:15:46and they played a double game.
00:15:49On the one hand, what I have called the diplomacy of deception, which is practiced a lot by
00:15:55the empires and the U.S. empire in the world, with its different modalities, the diplomacy
00:16:01of deception with false attraction, false offers, to try to win space and stab you in
00:16:09the back.
00:16:10Or they also apply at other times the diplomacy of deception based on blackmail, on the threat
00:16:18of invasion, of economic wars.
00:16:21We know how the U.S. and its allies act, all their ways of acting, they thought that 2024
00:16:30was the definite year, so they pursued the diplomacy of deception grounded in negotiations
00:16:37that we developed with the outgoing government, Joe Biden, which they fully did not comply with.
00:16:43What were called the talks of verbatim, right?
00:16:46And the signing of the agreements, documents are there, which they do not comply with in
00:16:52a coarse, shameless way.
00:16:55On one side, they favored, financed, supported, and promoted the resurgence of a far-right
00:17:09fascist bloc that controlled a good part of the Venezuelan opposition, so they would
00:17:18pave the way for a great conspiracy, the Trojan horse they needed to destroy countries.
00:17:26And they believed, once again, as they believed in the coup d'etat of 2002, underestimating
00:17:33us, underestimating the people of Venezuela.
00:17:36They believed they had the perfect plan, but a small detail, they did not count up
00:17:42with the immense power of the historical bloc of the Bolivarian revolution.
00:17:47They did not realize that in Venezuela there is a powerful historical bloc, and that Venezuela
00:17:52has a perfect fusion among the popular power, the military power, and the police power.
00:17:58This is what we call the Union and the Civil-Military-Police fusion, which I have been describing as the
00:18:04popular-military-police fusion of the great historical bloc, taking into account Granchi's
00:18:10concept of the Bolivarian revolution developed by Chavez.
00:18:14So this year, we have shattered to pieces the imperialist plan in its attempt of destroying
00:18:23the Bolivarian revolution.
00:18:25And they keep up their target, a star-born, obsessed of destabilizing Venezuela.
00:18:35And then they try to become, just as they turned the July 28th presidential elections
00:18:40into a global election, and now with social media, even more the manipulation of social
00:18:46media.
00:18:47How many elections were there in 2024 in the world?
00:18:51Hundreds of elections.
00:18:52Dozens at least.
00:18:54One of the most electoral years in history.
00:18:56But there were only two elections, the one in Venezuela on July 28th and the United States
00:19:02in November.
00:19:03They turned it into a global election.
00:19:06Now they want on January 10th to be a global election, a global office, trying to do what
00:19:15they haven't achieved, nor will they achieve, which is to destabilize our homeland, to destabilize
00:19:22our democracy, to rail Venezuela, and try to take it down to the path of chaos, division,
00:19:28take it down to the path of confrontation and with chaos, division, violence, to make
00:19:34a call to a foreign military intervention, which is the ultimate dream of this mindless
00:19:42idea of Venezuelan fascism, of the far right, to try to pursue a method of maximum pressure
00:19:52violence and destruction of the revolutionary forces of chavism.
00:19:58Plainly, Venezuela is at peace, tranquility, calm, sure of its destiny, sure of its path.
00:20:09And just as we have known to tear down, to demolish, to dismantle internal conspiracies,
00:20:17internal fascism, external pressures, conspiracies, mercenaries, terrorists, during these 25 years,
00:20:27we have already had the learning and the capacity to guarantee to the people of Venezuela and
00:20:32to the peoples of the world who support us, who love us, who love the people of Venezuela,
00:20:38that Venezuela will follow its path of independence, peace, and revolution.
00:20:42Be sure of that.
00:20:44And as you were saying, President, the media campaign against Venezuela has been going
00:20:50on for 25 years, and this campaign, we have seen it intensify after your electoral victory
00:21:00on July 28th.
00:21:02In particular, the international conservative media have modified without hesitation the
00:21:10story of what happened the next day of the elections, what happened on July 29th.
00:21:16In other words, when organized armed groups attacked a series of official institutions
00:21:23and caused about 30 deaths.
00:21:26The version that has been given in the international media and the social networks, that the social
00:21:33networks have spread, is that the victims have been caused by the authorities.
00:21:37So the world is a bit upside down, as Eduardo Galeano said.
00:21:42You have reacted against these lies and you have launched, not only you have relaunched
00:21:49the revolutionary movement, in particular with the historical bloc, but also with a
00:21:54great anti-fascist offensive.
00:21:57You have organized in Caracas a series of anti-fascist congresses, of anti-fascist movements.
00:22:08International anti-fascism has now taken place in Caracas, in support of the Bolivarian Revolution.
00:22:16And I wanted to ask you, on the one hand, your opinion about this international campaign,
00:22:23although you just said it to a certain extent, and what is your opinion about these anti-fascist
00:22:28congresses that have been taking place in Caracas in the last few months?
00:22:33The anti-fascist congresses in Venezuela have shown the huge support that we have in
00:22:40all the global movements, anti-colonialist, anti-fascist, progressive, left-wing, revolutionary,
00:22:48in all the humanist movements.
00:22:50Here in Venezuela, people have come together of the immense civilizational diversity of
00:22:56all continents, of all countries, and what are they looking for?
00:23:01They are looking for an alternative, an alternative so that the unipolar world does not return,
00:23:09so that hegemony ends.
00:23:11And they are also telling the owners, the private companies, owners of social medias,
00:23:17of websites, of the great global media, that a different world is possible.
00:23:22And we support the world of reality in Venezuela.
00:23:26That's firstly.
00:23:27Secondly, the immense support of the people of Venezuela to the anti-fascist congresses.
00:23:33I was a witness of several experiences where, let's say, visitors, delegates of social movements,
00:23:42of intellectuals, politicians of the world, of Asia, of Africa, of Europe, of the United States,
00:23:49of Latin America and the Caribbean, went to visit the communities of different states of the country.
00:23:58They were able to circulate through the streets of the different cities and towns, and they
00:24:03could see on the streets the will of the Venezuelan people of tranquility, of stability, of peace,
00:24:09of their will to be respected, that nobody gets involved in the internal affairs of Venezuela,
00:24:14so that the empires leave Venezuela alone, that this is the homeland of Bolivars.
00:24:18So, secondly, I repeat, they could see the immense support and admiration of the people
00:24:23of Venezuela to the anti-fascist congresses.
00:24:27Thirdly, I can tell you that in Venezuela the future of the progressive movements of
00:24:33the world is being decided, of the revolutionary movements of the world, and I am convinced
00:24:40that such message, such awareness and alert are in the minds of millions of men and women
00:24:47from all continents, from all countries, from all religions, from all cultures, because
00:24:54they know that Venezuela has a very powerful voice to denounce global crimes.
00:25:00It has a very powerful voice to denounce the decadence of the Western world.
00:25:05It has a very powerful voice to make proposals that allow the approach of the peoples of
00:25:13the civilizations in function of new, more egalitarian development models that propose
00:25:21the greatest social happiness, as was the approach of the liberator Simon Bolivar.
00:25:27So people were watching, just as there is manipulation of social media, of the mercenary
00:25:38hitmen who write articles here and there, on websites, on media outlets, be certain,
00:25:46as I have seen it, and we have seen it, that just as there is an immense manipulation,
00:25:52there is also an immense operation to defend the truth in our country, and people know
00:25:59what it meant in the conspiracy to use the elections on July 28 and to spread violence
00:26:09nationwide to strike a coup with the foreign intervention.
00:26:13People are aware of the immense value of the effort of Venezuelan people that in 48 hours
00:26:18restore tranquility and peace to do justice.
00:26:22The justice entities in Venezuela, the public prosecutor's office, the judicial system,
00:26:27you know that they have advanced a deep professional investigation abided by internal law, even
00:26:37abided by international law, to find and hold those responsible for the acts of violence,
00:26:44for the hate crimes that were committed.
00:26:47All the people killed in the violent incidents on the fascist outbursts on July 29 and 30,
00:26:55all were victims of these groups called the comanditos, of these groups of payoff criminals,
00:27:02of these groups that went out to the streets to burn, to break, because they intended,
00:27:09once again, it is not the first time, they intended with this warimba, this uprising,
00:27:14this 2024 version uprising, to trigger a commotion of such magnitude that it would give justification
00:27:23to the U.S. government and its right-wing allies to try to put military force in Venezuela
00:27:29and to turn Venezuela into an area of combat, of conflict.
00:27:37But there is strength, there is awareness, there is capacity, and in 48 hours peace was
00:27:43re-established constitutionally, justice has been done, justice will continue to be done,
00:27:48and I can tell you with absolute conviction that if you go out to the streets of any community,
00:27:56anywhere in the country, and you ask Venezuelans, do you want the warimba uprisings to return,
00:28:03do you want violence to return, do you want hate crimes to return, attacks, intolerance,
00:28:11more than 90% of this country will answer you in one voice, we don't want intolerance,
00:28:17we don't want hate, we don't want division, we don't want violence, we are headed towards
00:28:22peace, and I can assure you that this man who is here, that you know very well, Nicolás
00:28:33Maduro Moro, re-elected president, is the greatest guarantee together with our people
00:28:39of peace, stability, and independence of Venezuela.
00:28:43In a few days, from the 7th to the 12th of January, there will be an immense anti-fascist
00:28:50congress of the world's youth, and there will be the second chapter of the anti-fascist
00:28:56congress of social and political movements, so we are waiting for the arrival of over
00:29:002,000 leaders, men and women of social and political movements from all continents, who
00:29:09come together with Venezuela to celebrate the victories of anti-fascism, because in
00:29:13Venezuela the future is being decided of the struggle against this macabre model that is
00:29:19trying to emerge.
00:29:22Mr. President, we are going to talk about the economy, it is an extremely important
00:29:27issue, and I wanted to ask you, a few days ago the Executive Vice President, Delsi Rodríguez,
00:29:34announced that you had decided to change the name of the Ministry of the Popular Power
00:29:41of Petroleum, which will now be called the Ministry of the Popular Power of Hydrocarbons,
00:29:50and Delsi Rodríguez said that this change translated a strategic turn in the way of
00:29:55addressing the energy issue.
00:29:57I would like to ask you to explain this strategic turn, and what does it consist of?
00:30:02Well, we defined in 2016 18 engines, 18 drivers, then came all the criminal sanctions, all
00:30:13the economic, commercial, and financial persecution against Venezuela, and we were very patient
00:30:19with the breakthrough of all these 18 boosters.
00:30:24One of these drivers is the hydrocarbon engine, Venezuela is a power in terms of energy, we
00:30:32have the largest oil reserve on earth, we have the fourth largest gas reserve, we have
00:30:38a powerful petrochemical industry, so we are addressing the hydrocarbon drive as a very
00:30:46important engine in our development, so with the vision not depending again, or just breaking
00:30:55the dependence on hydrocarbon engines, so we want it to be a powerful engine for the
00:31:00development of the country's economy, a powerful lever, but without depending again on it,
00:31:07because we have already made the decision to build a productive economy that sustains
00:31:11itself far beyond oil, and I think we have made good progress, more diversified, with
00:31:18diverse properties, or let's say potential development capacities, to guarantee and meet
00:31:27internal needs, and enhance the portable vocation and substitution of imports that
00:31:35the country needs.
00:31:37And Mr. President, for a few years now, Venezuela has been experiencing what analysts have described
00:31:44as an economic miracle, according to figures from independent and reliable international
00:31:49organizations, Venezuela saw a growth of 12% in 2022, last year in 2023 the growth
00:31:57was 5%, and probably when the figures are published, the growth of the year 2024, which
00:32:14has just ended, will be 6%.
00:32:17And all this with a country besieged, a country subjected to dozens of criminal, coercive,
00:32:22unilateral measures.
00:32:25Analysts are wondering, how do you do it?
00:32:27What is your recipe?
00:32:28First of all, we have a plan.
00:32:34Here I have, look, the review, this is my work document, my work agenda.
00:32:44I am not going to show it to you, and here we permanently follow the economic strategy.
00:32:54The first thing was to establish in 2016, with great clarity, the real boosters for
00:33:00national breakthrough, national development.
00:33:03The second thing was to establish the need to build macroeconomic balances, typical of
00:33:11a productive effort.
00:33:14And thirdly, it was to build a development strategy that would allow us, in a self-sustaining
00:33:23way, with our own effort, I always quote Artigas, the great liberator of the Eastern Band of
00:33:31Luwai, when I say, let's not expect anything but ourselves, that look, I have it here,
00:33:39I have it in our, I kept it in our mind, in my mind, in the development strategy of each
00:33:44sector of the national economy.
00:33:46We set ourselves great goals, here we are ratifying them.
00:33:51A fundamental goal was to produce food.
00:33:54I did a re-engineering of the great Agro-Venezuela mission that Commander Chavez created, and
00:34:02we did a re-engineering in debate with the national farmer movement, and we assume in
00:34:08practice actions that allow to free the productive forces of the field.
00:34:13Venezuela went from an 80% dependence on food products from abroad, we had 120 years buying
00:34:22all the food from overseas, why?
00:34:25Because look, the oil check.
00:34:28We went from an 80% dependence, we surpassed from an 80% shortage to a 100% supply of
00:34:40agro-ecological products, of organic products.
00:34:45Looking for answers with the productive movement of the field, with the farmer movement, with
00:34:49the field entrepreneurship, it is fundamental what is the development of the field, of the
00:34:56land, of food, and we have been recovering the capacity of the Venezuelan industry, which
00:35:02was up to 80%.
00:35:05Venezuela has an important industry in all sectors, with a good level, Commander Chavez
00:35:11made a good industrial investment in the country through credit systems, et cetera, et cetera,
00:35:17we got to have the Venezuelan industrial system at 80%.
00:35:22This year, globally, we are closing at 45%, and next year I have proposed to the Vice
00:35:28President, to the Director of the Economy, Delsi Rodriguez, that we have to get to 70%
00:35:33to complete the cycle of substitution of imports, which is a necessary cycle to break the negative
00:35:43cycle of imports, of things that we can produce here, we can produce everything here, and
00:35:51in that way, strengthen the new cycle of import vocations, which allows for the entry
00:35:56of convertible currencies to strengthen this changed system of Venezuela, to have money
00:36:03for many other things.
00:36:04Here I have the plan.
00:36:05On this, I am going to have already proposed the seven transformations, the first of all,
00:36:13the great economic transformations of Venezuela, to continue advances in the development of
00:36:17a strong economy.
00:36:19Notice that we have developed a strong internal market, right now, we had an 80% upsurge in
00:36:28national internal trade in the last quarter, this is what I have described as an overheating
00:36:33of internal consumption, which shows you great purchasing and consumption capacity of the
00:36:39population, and shows you a high level of supply by internal producers, but also by
00:36:44imports.
00:36:45So we have to find a balance there, that is not so much imports, that everything is produced
00:36:53here.
00:36:54It is a fundamental element, we have good economic figures, we are talking about the
00:36:58year 2022, 12% growth, I correct you if you allow me, we had 15% growth in the year 2022,
00:37:11it was the first year of growth after the missiles, the economic criminal sanctions,
00:37:16the missiles fell and we endured, resisted, and the first year of real economic growth
00:37:21was in 2022, 15%.
00:37:24The second year was 2023, in 2023 we had 5.5% in 2024, according to all data, scientific,
00:37:37statistical, technical data, we will exceed 9% of the growth of gross domestic product,
00:37:46with a very high level of growth in the real economy, and also in the economy of hydrocarbons,
00:37:50which we are recovering, Ramonet, with our own investment, with our own technology, with
00:38:00the immense effort, wisdom, and preparation and training of the working class of the Venezuelan
00:38:06hydrocarbons with their knowledge, because you must know that we continue to suffer the
00:38:14economic persecution against our oil industry, our gas industry, so there are good elements,
00:38:21we are having in 2024 the lowest inflation in the past 20 years, we are having in 2024,
00:38:32we have closed with 14 trimesters of growth, so it is all auspicious to assume six years,
00:38:44as we are going to assume, to take of building up an economic self-sustaining productive
00:38:49model that supplies the country, that develops its sporting vocation capacity, and that generates
00:38:55wealth to recover all the social and labor rights of our working class and our people.
00:39:01Mr. President, continuing what you were just saying, now that the economic situation is
00:39:09improving remarkably, what measures can you announce at this time of celebration to improve
00:39:18the daily life of Venezuelans in the year 2025?
00:39:22Well, here I have the plan. First of all, to consolidate the food self-sufficiency and
00:39:32integrity of the country and the sporting capacity, we are making great investments
00:39:37in the Venezuelan field to advance in such a goal. Secondly, to consolidate the stability
00:39:43of the Venezuelan exchange system and the fight against inflation. This is vital to have the best
00:39:49conditions for the country's economic and social breakthrough. Here, there is a set of elements
00:39:59that are well articulated, well activated. We must continue to guarantee investments in our
00:40:07own technology with our allies around the world to stabilize the electric service and to continue
00:40:16to stabilize the internal fuel consumption, the recovery of the entire Venezuelan refining system.
00:40:23These are fundamental issues, elements within the social level plan.
00:40:30Regarding the social level, in 2023, I created the formula for the investment of the workers'
00:40:38total income. And in the year 2024, we deepened it and took it beyond what we could because the
00:40:49incomes depend on the country's incomes. I could tell you that we have only recovered 10% of the
00:40:57country's incomes. And with that, we have to invest and recover everything. But this year,
00:41:042025, we will advance in strengthening the concept of indexation and the recovery of real incomes
00:41:12to continue to grow to the same extent that the generation of national wealth is growing, is
00:41:20ramping up. Also, the plan to complete this year, 2025, the recovery of 100% of the country's health
00:41:28establishments and health centers with full guarantee of operation technology. We have
00:41:34advanced with military community brigades, which has been a miracle. And also, this year, 2025,
00:41:41we are going to recover 100% of the schools and high schools throughout the country with this
00:41:46wonderful formula, the BRICOMILES, to work in all directions. What I was telling you, for me,
00:41:52is of great importance. And I put it in my priorities. This year, we are going to do six
00:41:59consultations to deliver direct resources to communities. Four of those consultations for
00:42:06general community projects. One of those consultations, the fifth one, for projects
00:42:13specifically for youth. And another one for projects for cultures, for those promoting
00:42:22culture, everything that has to do with the great mission, Long Live Venezuela, my beloved country,
00:42:29and the application of the new budget, communal budget, which has a modality that people will
00:42:34begin to know. And I believe in the budget fund for community projects. And we estimate that fund,
00:42:41we project that it will have the equivalent of $600 million more. It is the budget of the nation
00:42:51put directly to the communities, and they decide, they will decide over their priorities.
00:42:59That is going to have an immense impact on the quality of life in the territory,
00:43:03in the communities. And well, we are also going to move forward,
00:43:10as we started in 2024, in the development of the great missions of the new generation.
00:43:16The great missions of the new generation, taken into account the original concept of
00:43:22Commander Chavez of the missions, great missions of the new generation are designed from the
00:43:28structural strategic point of view towards sectors that were the most hit in the economic war,
00:43:34with the criminal sanctions of the U.S. government. The great mission, Venezuela
00:43:40woman, which will continue to advance in the axis of the integrating women in a specific,
00:43:48particular way in the construction of that immense movement of women in the country.
00:43:52The great mission of Venezuela, the youth, the right of the young people to study, to work,
00:43:58to culture, to education. The great mission, grandparents, grandmothers, and grandfathers
00:44:04of the homeland. That is my great mission, because I am a grandfather of the homeland,
00:44:09of the human homeland. The great mission, long live Venezuela, my beloved homeland,
00:44:14identity, culture, independence of the spirit, of the soul, of the
00:44:19of the great mission of equality. And next to this, well, what has to do with the housing and
00:44:25habitats, that is the empowerment and unification in a single effort of the great mission,
00:44:30housing Venezuela, and the great mission, new neighborhood, tricolor neighborhood. That is
00:44:36already beautiful. It is well elaborated, and I think that we are going to advance with new
00:44:41methods that people want, new methods to build up housing, fix housing. We have very clear
00:44:49priorities. We have the plan, we have the will, we have the support of the people,
00:44:53and I think that the year 2025 and these years that will pass will be truly exceptional, wonderful.
00:45:02President, we are now going to move to the subject of technology and society.
00:45:09I know you're very interested. Will you accept a cup of tea, a cup of tea,
00:45:13maloguillo with lemon and ginger? With great pleasure. Very good for health.
00:45:21So, I would like to address a subject that I know you are very interested in,
00:45:26the subject of social networks and their influence on our societies.
00:45:31Recently, several governments have taken measures to limit access to social networks. For example,
00:45:38Albania decided to ban TikTok for a year. For example, Brazil decided to ban access to
00:45:50electronic devices, smartphones, in school establishments. And Australia
00:45:59has decided to ban social networks for everyone under 16. So, I would like to ask you
00:46:08if your government in Venezuela is thinking about adopting any of these measures.
00:46:13Well, the first thing is that we have to understand the global phenomenon of social media
00:46:20and how private companies are owners of the immense power of communication that no one
00:46:27has ever had before in the history of humanity. So, they reach you through the phone, through
00:46:34the telephone to millions of thousands of millions of men and women on earth. And the
00:46:41capacity they have created, first for economic and commercial reasons, to influence on people's
00:46:49minds. Capacity that they have already developed with the marketing that we know. We know you
00:46:56studied that very well in this book. This is your 2007 book where you studied the capacity
00:47:05of manipulation and influence on radio, press, and television at the moment.
00:47:11And right now, they have taken this to a level that we have never thought. And
00:47:23they know your personal taste, Ramonet, and yours too. What do you like? If you like kittens or
00:47:31puppies, or you like a kind of soda or meal, they know all your personal likes,
00:47:41but they don't stay there. They have already taken this to the political level for manipulation of
00:47:49electoral processes, for manipulating political processes, for destabilizing countries. In fact,
00:47:57the great powers of the world have taken over social media of their countries. The People's
00:48:04Republic of China, India, Russia, and the United States, which controls the large private companies
00:48:12of billionaires, owners of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, and now TikTok. Because
00:48:24in the end, TikTok has ended up succumbing to blackmail and control of the powerful
00:48:32United States. First, we have to understand, and I have studied a lot about the subject,
00:48:37because it is not easy. Indeed, I have seen people who understand it theoretically,
00:48:43but they are victims of social media. Because many people know about social media, but they are
00:48:55a victim too. I started reading this book by Juan Carlos Monedero. Well, Juan Carlos Monedero
00:49:00brought it to me in the days of the fascists of breaking Caracas. I recommend it to you all.
00:49:05I was reading them, journalism at the service of the extreme right, and you read this book,
00:49:18and you think I wrote it to interpret what happened in Venezuela on July 27, 28, 29, and 30.
00:49:26This book was applied in Venezuela for a coup d'etat by the fascists. We know the book by heart,
00:49:32and in practice, it is a very valuable book. There is a book that also fell into my house.
00:49:40They gave it to me by Jonathan Heath, a US citizen. I do not know him, but it is a very good
00:49:48book, bestseller of the New York Times, The Anxious Generation. Why are social media
00:49:53are causing an epidemic of mental illnesses among our young people? It was written by
00:49:58a US intellectual. I recommend it. The word of the year has been brainwashed.
00:50:07The social media just brought the reactions of the brain, and I have another book,
00:50:16The Enemy Knows the System, Manipulations of Ideas. So, this is a group of Venezuelans,
00:50:24two officers, a captain of the Navy, Francisco Felipe López, and the mayor, José Gregorio Silva
00:50:34Fernández, The War of Information in the 21st Century. Extraordinary book, extraordinary about
00:50:38this phenomenon of Venezuelan military. Well, I have a book that fell early in my hands,
00:50:44my Michel Desmorgues, more books and less screen. How to End the Digital Criminals.
00:50:54Really, there is a lot of research material, and we are forced to understand it,
00:51:02because we are forced to protect the mental health of our countries, but especially we are very
00:51:09compelled to protect the mental health of children, of the youth that is growing,
00:51:15because that concept that they call brain rot,
00:51:22it is already studied. It is affecting cognitive development of brain functions of our children
00:51:32dedicated to screens, to telephones. Here in Venezuela, in these days,
00:51:36the Constitutional Court of the Supreme Court of Justice, which deals with this issue,
00:51:41a group of parents, schools, and high schools, filed an appeal as a result of one of the vital
00:51:51TikTok challenges. There were two deaths of a boy and a girl due to these vital challenges,
00:52:00and lately another person was burned down and had 70% destruction of his body,
00:52:08live, transmitted live, a vital TikTok challenge. The Venezuelan state acted through the competing
00:52:14authority CONATEL, which is the National Telecommunications Council. This group of
00:52:20parents acted before the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court called a set of hearings,
00:52:27judicial events, and issued a first sentence clear, resounding, to force TikTok to open an
00:52:38office in Venezuela and submit to Venezuelan laws. Secondly, it has imposed a fine for the
00:52:49equivalent of 10 million dollars, and thirdly, it has said that in case this is not fulfilled,
00:52:56it will take more severe measures of protection in the Venezuelan space.
00:53:05All I can say is that I put myself at the service of those in humanity who want to defend the right
00:53:12to mental health and the Constitutional Court of Venezuela to do what must be done to protect our
00:53:18children, girls, young people, and all society. We have already seen the fascist outbreak.
00:53:28TikTok was the main campaign tool for the fascist outburst in Venezuela on July 27, 28, 29, and 30.
00:53:38I can tell you that I was in the same office. I was sitting right here on July 29 and 30,
00:53:45and I logged into my TikTok account. I have a TikTok account. You've seen it,
00:53:50Robin Jones. I logged into my TikTok account, and I opened it. I'm going to open it so you can see.
00:53:58I'm going, and here I have a very nice video of Alberto Ibarretto. Well, here in the TikTok
00:54:04account of every 10 videos that came to me, eight were promoting violence on the streets.
00:54:12Are you going to tell me that TikTok didn't know?
00:54:17Are you going to tell me that they use what is called selective censorship?
00:54:21They censor whoever they want. They rip to your account. They take your video away,
00:54:30but when it was violence against Venezuela, they promoted. Now they are promoting these
00:54:34vital challenges that have made Albania suspended for a year. That in Australia,
00:54:39they have taken radical measures as well, and I'm sure that in 2025, we will see in the world
00:54:48how laws and decisions to safeguard citizens from the infections of
00:54:56anti-values that go against the mental health that not only TikTok promotes,
00:55:04but many social networks boost. And Mr. President, in the same perspective,
00:55:09not exactly the topic, but in that way. Bon appétit. Thank you very much.
00:55:16I would like to know your reflections, since I know you have worked a lot on the subject,
00:55:23on the issue of artificial intelligence, because above all, the type of international framework
00:55:31in the perspective of what you were saying at the end of your intervention,
00:55:37what international framework should be defined to, on the one hand, not prevent technological,
00:55:45scientific reflection on artificial intelligence from continuing, which can contribute a lot to
00:55:51society, but on the other hand, to limit the harmful effects of artificial intelligence and
00:55:57the threats that they can represent in the future. Many scientists are warning against this.
00:56:04Artificial intelligence, without a doubt, is a technological breakthrough that surprises
00:56:15humanity. They say that there are four sources of artificial intelligence worldwide,
00:56:23two have the United States, China has another, and the other Europe. That is what is known so
00:56:29far. I have studied the subject a lot, yet I have some books that I recommend. This one was given
00:56:35to me by H.R. Rodriguez on my birthday. No, by Christmas. I am already reading it. The era of
00:56:43artificial intelligence and our human future. It has several writers, Eric Kissinger, who wrote it
00:56:49before dying, Eric Smith, and Daniel Huttenlacher. I am working on them, and here they explain how
00:57:01artificial intelligence began, emerged, what were the first supercomputers, how were they fed.
00:57:10Here I also have a book that was given to me. I am reading the non-intelligence of the
00:57:17outline of the human background. Yes, I know Mariano Zegnam very well.
00:57:24An Argentinian boy, a very brilliant scientist. Right, and here a descendant of the Japanese,
00:57:33Michio Kaku, Quantum Supremacy, the technological revolution that will change everything.
00:57:40Quantum computers can do thousands of millions of operations, where it used to take centuries,
00:57:46now it takes seconds. It is what they are already calling
00:57:53the artificial super intelligence, and our countries have the obligation to know this
00:57:59technology, to know it very well. Now it is combined, even Ramonet, I have said it a lot,
00:58:07but you know that it covers up a lot of things that one says. They combine artificial intelligence
00:58:13beyond the big data to get to know the countries, and social media are already directed
00:58:21by artificial intelligence for influencing segments and bots. For example, they know
00:58:30your social media, they know all your history, all your life, and now everything you publish
00:58:39fundamentally, when you get comments, you get particular comments.
00:58:46I was telling an artist the other day, an artist who started attacking from Miami,
00:58:53the far right, because he spoke nicely of Venezuela, a famous artist from Venezuela,
00:58:58he spoke nicely of Venezuela, he came to Venezuela, and then afterwards he complained.
00:59:04He, I received thousands of messages, and I told him the messages that came to you,
00:59:11they were bots, but bots and robots are no longer a warehouse where there are a few people with
00:59:16phones sending messages. No, that was already said, that was already deleted. Now it is
00:59:21artificial intelligence applied to social media, and they know all your backgrounds,
00:59:26and they know where to hit you, so they threaten a daughter, they threaten a loved one,
00:59:30they tell you something that can offend you, so when you read the messages they send you,
00:59:35it is a cognitive war, it is a psychological massacre what they are trying to do.
00:59:41We are working on artificial intelligence. I recently opened the University of Science
00:59:48Humberto Fernandez Moran. It has a four-year major in artificial intelligence engineering
00:59:56and artificial intelligence technology. There we are also giving courses, we are training the
01:00:03national staff, and also with collaboration with Cuba, with China, with Iran, with Russia,
01:00:09because we have to train, we are in the world of artificial intelligence, and what President
01:00:14Xi Jinping says, that I have read about him, a leader as enlightened as President Xi Jinping,
01:00:21just as it is a threat, and it poses a threat, let's take care of ourselves of it,
01:00:28and it is also an opportunity, it is a great issue for the years to come.
01:00:33President, let's now move to the last segment of our conversation about international politics.
01:00:40You have traveled a lot to the Middle Eastern region, you know the Arab world well. On the
01:00:46other hand, here in Venezuela there is an important Arab community, in particular there is a community
01:00:51of Syrian origin, which is very important, and I wanted to ask you,
01:00:59were you surprised by what happened on December 8th, when insurgent forces
01:01:07entered Damascus almost without resistance, and the Bashar state was overthrown?
01:01:13What analysis do you make of this? Well, I think that we are still assessing.
01:01:17I don't think those who came to power know how they got there, or why they got there.
01:01:26We see permanent statements and actions. Let's hope that peace be reached, and we would be able
01:01:38to know the truth about what happened. It is known that there were very powerful forces that acted
01:01:44with the greatest technology, with the cutting-edge technology. All those days,
01:01:49I was in communication with our ambassador, a great ambassador, a great comrade.
01:01:56He was there until just a few days ago, when he left Damascus, because of the threats of
01:02:04assassination of diplomats, and I was aware of all the incidents.
01:02:15It drew my attention how they took over social media, and how the Syrian state did not have
01:02:24the tools to prevent it, and how they managed to impose digital terrorism on social media.
01:02:34And paralyzed the entire society. There are many ways to explain what happened.
01:02:41Let's wait for the right time. All this leaves lessons for us, for those fighting for freedom,
01:02:47for independence, for a world for us, the men and women of the south. It teaches us lessons,
01:02:54very important lessons, about the consolidation of a democratic, deep state, with people, with
01:03:00unity, the consolidation of military forces, well-trained, well-prepared.
01:03:07So, it teaches us lessons about the management of social media.
01:03:12The Syrian society is a complex society. In Venezuela, we have a large community.
01:03:18We have a deep friendship, a great respect towards the Syrian people, because the Syrian
01:03:26people have one of the original civilizations. The civilization was born there, between the
01:03:32Tigris and the Euphrates, in that wonderful land, between that today's Iraq, what today's Syria,
01:03:41Egypt, the wonders of the world, and next to all of them, the Persian culture,
01:03:49and the sacred lands of Palestine, Lebanon, where our Lord Jesus Christ was.
01:03:57So, it is a wonderful history, from the human, civilizational point of view, from the cultural,
01:04:02religious point of view, of a region. What we hope, aspire, is that that region finds its own way,
01:04:09and consolidates its own model, sooner or later, that is going to happen. And those who take
01:04:17account of victories, will regret it, because that Syrian people is a people that we know is
01:04:25wonderful, and it also has a telluric strength, deep military strength, and they will not be able
01:04:31to subdue it. Mr. President, a few weeks ago, in Baku, Azerbaijan, not far from the Middle East,
01:04:38the COP29 was closed, the World Climate Summit. I remember that you were at a climate summit
01:04:46in Copenhagen. One of the conclusions of the climate summit is that we have to reduce the
01:04:52emissions of greenhouse gases, in particular those emitted by the carbonated energy, such as oil, gas,
01:05:00coal. Now, the question is, how does Venezuela, which is a great producer of hydrocarbons,
01:05:10contribute to the collective effect to try to reduce the possibility of climate change?
01:05:19Here, those who have to contribute are the countries that consume the most,
01:05:23the United States, the European countries that have destroyed climate, and that wanted to create
01:05:30a kind of carbon bonus from Copenhagen, which was a false, deceitful offer,
01:05:37bid, the diplomacy of deceit. They offered to create a carbon bonus fund for them to pay
01:05:44for the pollution that they created there in the north to the countries that do not pollute.
01:05:52Venezuela is not a country that has an emission of greenhouse gases. On the contrary,
01:06:00the entire Amazon rainforest is a producer of oxygen.
01:06:05Humanity has to start moving forward without a doubt towards non-polluting forms of energy.
01:06:12We are fully incorporated in that. We have a group of scientists in the highest government
01:06:18that are moving forward as a country towards decarbonizing sources and producing all our
01:06:27power grid, our electricity. Now, we produce 75% of our electricity from hydrological sources,
01:06:33and that percentage is going to grow in the years to come. We are also investing in solar energy,
01:06:39which is called photovoltaics, and I put a little name so that people do not understand energy
01:06:45cost and produced by the sun, which is an ultra clean energy, the solar panel that is advancing
01:06:51so much now on the solar panel that produces electricity. I believe that humanity right now
01:07:01has the conditions to move forward in gigantic steps towards alternative sources of non-polluting
01:07:08energy production. You can see that lately our vice president, Elsie Rodriguez, was in China
01:07:15in several cities, and they showed her a technology, Ramonette, that drives you crazy.
01:07:23For energy production? Yes, and China has advanced, for example,
01:07:31in what vehicles are. It has advanced in vehicles that are supported by direct solar energy.
01:07:39You don't even have to connect them for them to consume. We are already negotiating with
01:07:46one of the Chinese companies for the production of electric vehicles to assemble in Venezuela
01:07:51to produce electric vehicles with solar energy. There are wonderful things that technology allows,
01:07:59and it is also very important. I have explained to a group of young people these days what it
01:08:05has to do with regenerative agriculture. They are applying it in some places in Africa
01:08:12to recover totally deserted areas. As we recover forested areas, defending them like the Amazon,
01:08:23as we generate areas that are already desertified, as we strengthen micro-habitats through a green
01:08:32regenerative process, I believe that we will be able to balance the importance of the immense
01:08:39damage that in 150 years predatory capitalism has done to rivers, forests, seas, and to the
01:08:47whole environment in general. It is one of the priority lines of our action. Mr. President,
01:08:53on November 24th, in Uruguay, the candidate Yamandu Orsi of the Brat Front won the second round
01:09:05of the election, and consequently the left is returning to power in this country.
01:09:10With the left in power in Uruguay, there are already, in Latin America, 11 countries governed
01:09:18by the left-wing parties. On the other hand, a few days ago, the 20th anniversary of Aoba was
01:09:24celebrated, this regional integration mechanism that Commander Chavez and Fidel Castro have founded.
01:09:33How do you see the issue of regional integration today? Do you think that with more left-wing
01:09:38governments in Latin America, that for a long time the issue of regional integration can advance more
01:09:45quickly? I think that this new process that is taking place has an explanation for the
01:10:00premature, rapid, early emergence of the alternatives that the right-wing has created.
01:10:07Oligarchies, social media, it is a tremendous exhaustion. What alternatives have they created
01:10:15in the face of the exhaustion of a social democratic formula, the so-called, namely,
01:10:23progressive fascism? What is Millet? Millet is an extremist response to the failure of a model
01:10:32that they tried to apply. Neoliberalism. Still within the limits of neoliberalism,
01:10:41and Millet can be an alternative for the Argentinian people. Millet, with his madness,
01:10:48his histrionism, his extremism, his sadistic insensitivity against the people, his model of
01:10:57destruction of the state of the Argentinian economy, can he be an alternative for Argentinians?
01:11:04No, never. So, surely, Millet will have to come up with an own alternative for Argentina with
01:11:17ideas of advancements, with ideas of social justice, of equality, of more democracy to
01:11:21the Argentinian people. This is happening in all countries, and I think that the long
01:11:28for the first spring that the progressive movement had taught many lessons.
01:11:35I lived up close. I was the foreign minister of Commander Chavez, and I saw the first spring
01:11:43with our boss, our commander. I saw how the Alba emerged in 2004, how Petro-Caribbean emerged,
01:11:54how the strengthening of the Alba to Petro-Caribbean recovered the peoples of the continent,
01:11:59how the medical mission emerged, which served over 8 million poor people in our country,
01:12:06how the mission of literacy emerged, how the health missions emerged for all our peoples,
01:12:14how Petro-Caribbean gave stability to the whole continent. Practically,
01:12:18a thing stays favored by Petro-Caribbean, and how from that union between Fidel and Chavez, the Alba
01:12:26then expanded the return of the Sandinista front and Commander Daniel Ortega, and the triumph of
01:12:34Morales in Bolivia, the triumph of Correa, the triumph of Lula, the arrival of Nestor Kirchner,
01:12:44and of Peronism, which was a great surprise. The leadership was brave, very brave, determined,
01:12:49transforming Nestor Kirchner. The emergence and arrival of the broad front with Tabaret,
01:12:55then with Pepe, and how the whole of Central America and South America, it was the arrival
01:13:07of the Farabundo Martí front in El Salvador, and the unification of President Meselaya and the Alba,
01:13:18how a fresh spring took place that had a main characteristic, the union in diversity,
01:13:25respect among all leaderships and national projects. Surely, there are always differences.
01:13:32How can we all be equal in political thought, in doctrines? But it was achieved
01:13:39under the leadership of Commander Chavez and the leaders of that moment, a level of coexistence
01:13:45that allowed the birth of UNASUR. It must be remembered, because I recall it perfectly,
01:13:53on April 17, 2007, on the island of Margarita, when the concept of UNASUR was born. We must
01:14:01recall that Alan Garcia was there, the right-wing president in Peru. We must recall that in that
01:14:08meeting, the birth of UNASUR, there was Álvaro Uribe Vélez, paramilitary leader of the Colombian
01:14:13far-right. The union in diversity of left-wing progressive movements and the union in diversity
01:14:20of other ideologies of the continent. And then I recall it perfectly, Caracas, Venezuela.
01:14:28On December 2nd and 3rd, 2011, Commander Chavez was already sick, being treated,
01:14:36and the Latin American Caribbean state community was founded with the 33 states of Latin America,
01:14:45from Mexico to Patagonia, and all the Caribbean. For the first time united,
01:14:51we could say the great dream of the congress of the liberator Simon Bolivar, a great unitary
01:14:59dream. So let's draw lessons from that first spring, from what is emerging now,
01:15:06that allows tolerance, understanding, and most of all, understanding in depth that
01:15:14we need to unite Latin America and the Caribbean to be able to build up a block of forces,
01:15:20a confederation of forces of countries and governments that allows us to move to the
01:15:26rest of the 21st century. There is a lot of intrigue, Ramonet, a certain word.
01:15:33There is a lot of intrigue to split us, to try to say that the good left and the bad left,
01:15:42the good progressives and bad progressives, let's put aside the intrigue. Let's face it and
01:15:49have a clear plan for the union of Latin America and the Caribbean.
01:15:53Mr. President, the elected president for the United States, Donald Trump,
01:15:58has announced a few days ago that he appointed a former ambassador, Mr. Richard Grenell,
01:16:05as presidential envoy for special missions, and in particular, he has entrusted him
01:16:12with monitoring relations with Venezuela. What opinion does this initiative deserve for you?
01:16:19I think it's fine. I have said, let's hope that the U.S. elected president, Donald Trump,
01:16:31takes office on January 20th, and after he arrives in the White House, we will see.
01:16:41If you asked me, what is the policy of Bolivarianism in the 21st century,
01:16:51we, the Bolivarians in the 21st century, what is the policy that Commander Chavez taught me,
01:16:59and what is the policy that I have practiced with the United States, I would tell you,
01:17:04dialogue, respect, and understanding. Here on this side, in this presidential chair,
01:17:13will be Nicolás Maduro Moro, with experience of all these years, and I'm always going to be ready
01:17:21to move on for relations of respect, of dialogue, of cooperation with the government of the United
01:17:28States, with the U.S. society, and, well, all the people of Venezuela. I hope
01:17:37that that is the direction, the destiny of our relations.
01:17:43You'll receive him if he comes.
01:17:45Well, let's hope that Donald Trump arrives first at the White House, and then we will see.
01:17:51All right, Mr. President. So, last question. The international situation is very worrisome.
01:17:58Today, we have already talked about some of these issues. A genocide has been committed
01:18:03for the past 15 months, and the wars are multiplying, not only in the Middle East,
01:18:10in Lebanon, in Syria, in Yemen, but also in Africa, in Sudan, in the Sahel,
01:18:16the Congo, inequalities, migrations, the issue of climate, and the general sentiment
01:18:26of the citizenship around the world is that there is no international authority.
01:18:30The world works without a guide, and to continue to believe in the United Nations system,
01:18:38do you think there's reason in other international institutions?
01:18:44I think we are in a transition, the transition of the hegemonic imperial world
01:18:49that has lasted centuries, I could say millennia, but particularly,
01:18:56the world we know now is a world that emerged from the Second World War.
01:19:03There was a great change in the 90s, because the great power was the union of Soviet Socialist
01:19:10Republics, and the world of real socialism, which was neither socialism nor real,
01:19:16was nothing. It collapsed. Now, a new correlation of forces has emerged, where there are great
01:19:26superpowers. The superpower of the 21st century is called the Chinese People's Republic. Other
01:19:33superpowers have emerged. The Russian Federation is another of the superpowers. India, which in
01:19:40the past was called Bharat, a legendary name of the people that I love a lot, the people of India,
01:19:47are like the three most important superpowers, and a set of intermediate and advanced powers,
01:19:54such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates,
01:20:04Turkey, the Republic of South Africa,
01:20:10which are intermediate powers in the process of development, and independent countries and
01:20:17regions have emerged in Africa. Africa is said to be the continent of power of the future,
01:20:23with its economic growth that it will have, and at the forefront, there are important countries,
01:20:28such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, among others, Ethiopia, Nigeria, the whole process of the
01:20:37colonization of the old French colonies, the new axis that is emerging, and here in Latin America,
01:20:43we also have Brazil, which is the continental country that is destined to condemn Brazil to
01:20:52be the great South American and Latin American superpower. Mexico too, Mexico, which has an
01:20:59excellent driver, it had an excellent driver for six years, a president, President López Obrador,
01:21:06now it has an excellent president, Claudia Sheinbaum, so there is a rearrangement of the
01:21:12workforces, of the correlation forces, and that has its effect on the multilateral organism
01:21:18that we have, which is the United Nations. The United Nations currently experiences a serious
01:21:23exhaustion process due to the dispute over power, because the Western empires have decided to use
01:21:33their military power, their military technology, to threaten the world, to attack the world,
01:21:39and to try to create conflicts in general. The conflict that they created, Ukraine and Russia,
01:21:46the massacre against the Palestinian people, which is a war of extermination, as Pope Francis
01:21:51said, it is not a war, it is a genocide. The massacre against the people of Lebanon,
01:21:58now the shellings on the people of Syria, the latent threats against the people of Iraq,
01:22:04of Iran, of Jordan, of Yemen, so there is a rearrangement. Let's see what will arise from
01:22:15this stage. We believe in international law. We denounce when they use the mechanism of the
01:22:21United Nations to favor the interests of the United States or the global Western empire,
01:22:27and we are in a dispute, in a struggle, I am sure, that in the end, universal values will prevail,
01:22:34international law, and in the end, the interests of the peoples of the world, but most of all,
01:22:42at the end of this path, the historical legacy of the peoples of the global South will prevail,
01:22:50so let's understand that we are in a transition, in a very hard fight for power. Let's embrace
01:22:57the great causes that defend our peoples, and from Venezuela we say, with Bolivar,
01:23:02let's advance towards the balance of the world, where we can insist with our identity,
01:23:08with our project, and our pride of being Venezuelans, Latin Americans, and Caribbeans,
01:23:15so we have a lot of elements in the historical legacy to be able to understand and grasp
01:23:20the future that belongs to us. Chavez said, Ramonet, he told us exactly 30 years ago,
01:23:31I recall it on these days of December in 1994, we were elaborating ideas for the future, and he
01:23:40started talking about the multipolar world, and that youth, so young that we were there,
01:23:46by that time we were elaborating the concept of the multipolar world, and then he told the people
01:23:53when we went out to the streets, we went from neighborhood to neighborhood, from square to
01:23:58square with him, and he said, they stole from us the 20th century, the 19th century, but the 21st
01:24:07century will be ours, and it will be a multipolar century. Here we are in the middle of the battle,
01:24:12it is our century, no one is going to take it away from us, let's have the security.
01:24:17Thank you very much, Mr. President, and again, Happy New Year to you, to the people of Venezuela,
01:24:24and well, Happy New Year to you, as we say now. Of course, and here at your service, I greet to
01:24:33all of those who are listening to us on social media, and here in battle and victory, thank you
01:24:41very much.