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Venezuela’s Maduro: Trump Ordered Colombian Gov’t, Mafia to Kill Me

Venezuela’s Maduro: Trump Ordered Colombian Gov’t, Mafia to Kill Me
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told Sputnik in an exclusive interview that he was sure that US President Donald Trump ordered the Colombian government and mafia to kill him.

"It is undoubtedly that Trump gave an order to kill me, he told the Colombian government, the Colombian mafia to kill me. If something happens to me one day, Donald Trump and Colombian President Ivan Duque will be responsible for everything that happens to me," Maduro said.

Commenting on a possibility of a new attempt on his life, Maduro reiterated that he was well protected.

"I am always protected by the Venezuelan people, we have a good intelligence service," Maduro told Sputnik.

The statement came shortly after Bolton was photographed holding a yellow notepad that read: "5,000 troops to Colombia," prompting widespread speculation that senior US security officials are discussing plans to deploy military forces to the Latin American country, which borders Venezuela.

Relatedly, Maduro asserted that White House National Security Adviser John Bolton did not allow the administration of President Donald Trump to establish a dialogue with the Venezuelan government

The Venezuelan leader noted that he had made attempts to establish contacts with the US government for quite a long time, but this has brought no results.

"For all these years, I have been trying on a personal level [to establish dialogue]. I have sent messages that reached Trump publicly, through media, in order to establish a relationship with the US government, in order to have respect and dialogue, despite the political, cultural and ideological differences between Donald Trump and Nicolas Maduro. And it seemed like the window of opportunity opened for that. But Bolton prevented Donald Trump from initiating a dialogue with Nicolas Maduro. I have the information that he has prohibited this", Maduro said.

In September, Maduro said that his possible meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump could result in significant changes, stressing that he had enough courage to establish the respectful high-level dialogue with the United States.

In turn, Trump said he was willing to meet with Maduro, too, if this would help strengthen Venezuela.

In the interview, Maduro reiterated his readiness to meet with Trump, however, such meeting, in his opinion, is unlikely to occur, because Trump's team will do everything to prevent such developments.

"At this point, I think it is difficult. I am ready to talk to Donald Trump personally, in public, in the United States or in Venezuela, wherever he wants, [and discuss] any agenda and any issues he [Trump] would like to talk about", Maduro said.

"Moreover, I am convinced that if we meet in person, it will be a different story. But I think, they [Trump's advisers] will not give us a chance. Let's be patient. For now, I think it is very difficult", Maduro added.

Moreover, the Venezuelan president said his country will prove unlawfulness of the US move to impose sanctions on the country’s state oil company PDVSA and its subsidiary Citgo, and will ultimately emerge victorious in the situation.

"This US decision absolutely violates the norms of international law, it is an unlawful decision [made] in a bid to expropriate a Venezuelan asset, a Venezuelan company. That's what we're going to demonstrate. I am confident that we will emerge victorious [in this situation], protecting company Citgo as the property of the Venezuelan people," Maduro said.

He described the US move to sanction the company as "one of the most imprudent, most insane decisions made by [US National Security Adviser] John Bolton."

On Monday, the United States blocked $7 billion in PDVSA's assets in its jurisdiction and imposed ban on deals with the entity as part of efforts to facilitate power transfer to "the interim president [Juan Guaido] or a subsequent democratically elected government." US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters that by blocking PDVSA assets, the United States takes care of this company in the interests of the people of Venezuela.

Furthermore, Maduro commented on the possibility of talks with the opposition led by Juan Guaido, saying that he was ready to start negotiations with the opposition with participation of international mediators.

"I am ready to sit down at the negotiating table with the opposition so that we could talk about what benefits Venezuela," Maduro said.

Speaking about a possibility of international mediation, Maduro said that "there are several governments and organizations in the world which have demonstrated their sincere concern about what was happening in Venezuela, and they have called for dialogue."

The president added that he would like such governments and organizations "to support dialogue in Venezuela."

Caracas is discussing possible international mediation in the Venezuelan political crisis with interested countries, and the issue may be resolved in the coming hours, Maduro added.

"The governments of Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia, Russia, Vatican, some European governments support [the call for] dialogue. I am sending official letters to them, so that they support the dialogue in Venezuela — where they want, when they want and in whatever form they want," Maduro said.

The president specified that at this stage he meant "private talks, telephone talks between the presidents, foreign ministers."

"Our Foreign Minister [Jorge Arreaza] is very active. We hope that there will be good results in the coming hours," Maduro added.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan Supreme Court announced its intention to conduct a full-fledged investigation into Guaido's activities and imposed a travel ban on the Venezuelan opposition leader on Tuesday. Earlier, Venezuela's Prosecutor General Tarek Saab asked the country's Supreme Court to launch this probe.

Russia, Cuba, China, Turkey and Iran have given Maduro's government full support. Maduro himself called Venezuela "the victim of a US conspiracy", referring to US Vice President Mike Pence promising Guaidó "full American support" the day before he declared himself Venezuela's new leader. Maduro has also stressed that Venezuela has held recent legitimate elections and urged the European countries to withdraw their demand.

Source: Sputnik, Edited by website team

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