Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil on Friday used his platform at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to once again claim that the United States seeks to end the Venezuelan socialist regime’s “historic liberation project” and steal the country’s resources.
Gil once again stood at the U.N. General Assembly in representation of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, who chose not to travel to New York. Maduro is actively wanted by U.S. authorities on multiple narco-terrorism charges and has an active $50 million bounty on information that can lead to his arrest and/or conviction.
The Venezuelan foreign minister – who prefaced his remarks by claiming that “Venezuela,” namely, the Maduro regime, “speaks to the world with the truth” – spent much of his speech condemning the United States.
Gil attempted to equate Venezuela’s “resistance against colonialism and humiliation,” war of independence from Spanish colonial rule, and other historic events with the arrival of late dictator Hugo Chávez to power in 1999 and the United States’s purported “war” to produce “regime change” in Venezuela and steal the nation’s resources.
“There have been countless attacks against Venezuela in recent years: destabilization efforts and conspiracies, including an assassination attempt using drones; economic warfare, the cruelest expression of which is the 1,042 sanctions that are being criminally applied against our oil industry and the nation’s productive sectors, as well as several mercenary incursions,” Gil said.
“Added to all this is now an absolutely illegal and totally immoral military threat that violates the U.N. Charter, Venezuela’s rights as a sovereign state, and even the laws of the United States itself,” he continued.
Over the past weeks, Nicolás Maduro and members of his rogue regime claim, without evidence, that the ongoing U.S. military deployment in Caribbean international waters to combat drug cartels in the region is a “threat” to Venezuela and is secretly part of a plot to oust the socialist dictator from from power.
Maduro has publicly threatened to respond with an “armed struggle” should Venezuela be invaded and has begun preparing the country for the alleged “invasion.” The Maduro regime has directly urged U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to help stop American drug-fighting efforts in the Caribbean.
“In these early decades of the 21st century, we have heard the false and vulgar justifications for invading our sister country Iraq, we have witnessed the bombing and destruction of Libya, and the 20-year invasion of Afghanistan,” Gil said.
“The aggression of the global powers has not ceased for a moment. And so, recently, we saw the treacherous and criminal bombing of the peaceful Islamic Republic of Iran. Today, the aggression is aimed at Venezuela, a peaceful and supportive country,” he continued.
The foreign minister further asserted that, since Venezuela cannot be accused of having weapons of mass destruction or nuclear weapons, “they invent vulgar and perverse lies that no one believes — neither in the United States nor in the world — to justify an atrocious, extravagant, and immoral military threat costing millions.”
“Therefore, we once again thank the world and U.S. public opinion, as well as the governments and peoples of the world, for denouncing this attempt to bring war to the Caribbean and South America in order to promote a ‘regime change’ that would allow them to steal Venezuela’s incalculable oil and gas wealth,” he claimed.
Gil, speaking on behalf of the Venezuelan socialist regime, demanded the end of the “genocide” in Gaza by the “Zionist regime of Israel,” echoing accusations levied against Israel in his 2024 speech at the U.N.
The foreign minister also expressed the Maduro regime’s support of close allies Iran, Nicaragua, and Cuba, as well as the regime’s support of Russia in what he described as its “fight against neo-Nazism and the militaristic aggression of the West.” He also expressed support of genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping’s calls for a “community of shared destinies.”
“We have forged a powerful national union. We reaffirm before the world that Venezuela has not been, is not, and will never be a threat to any nation,” Gil said. “Venezuela has been, is, and will always be a beacon of hope in the construction of a new humanity; of a world of equals, without empires, without blackmail, without threats.”
Moments before Yván Gil spoke on behalf of the Maduro regime at the U.N., Bloomberg reported on Friday that Nicolás Maduro allegedly offered to help President Donald Trump “hunt down leaders” of the Tren de Aragua terrorist organization. According to the report, Maduro reportedly extended the “offer” through Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell alongside a letter addressing Trump that regime officials published this month.
The offer to “help hunt” Tren de Aragua comes after Maduro and members of his regime have repeatedly claimed over the past year that Tren de Aragua “does not exist” and is instead part of an international smear campaign to tarnish the image of the socialist regime. It is largely believed that the Maduro regime “negotiated” with Tren de Aragua’s leadership before Venezuelan law enforcement officials “raided” their headquarters, the Tocorón Prison in Aragua, allowing Tren de Aragua founder and leader Héctor “The Child” Guerrero and his top brass to safely escape in September 2023.
In early September, President Donald Trump revealed that the U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean struck down a Venezuelan drug-laden vessel in international waters, killing 11 Tren de Aragua members. Maduro, and members of his regime have claimed, without evidence, that the footage of the struck vessel is “fake.” Since then, the United States struck down other Venezuelan drug-laden vessels through September.
Over the weekend, the Maduro regime continued its “training” of civilians ahead of the purported U.S. “invasion” of Venezuela by holding nationwide “Disasters and Armed Threats” civilian drills. Maduro ordered the new round of drills under the guise of preparing for a “natural disaster” after a series of quakes hit Venezuela last week, leaving only minor damages. The drills also included military training sessions in barracks and working-class neighborhoods, as well as new enlistment rounds for civilians to join the Bolivarian Militia, a military branch created by the ruling socialists and directly loyal to the regime.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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