Capriles: Ceasing oil shipment to Paraguay is an act of bombast

The presidential candidate for the opposition alliance known as Democratic Unified Panel (MUD), Henrique Capriles Radonski, thinks the internal crisis in Paraguay should be settled by the Paraguayans. He pointed out that if Venezuela wants to defend its sovereignty, it should respect the sovereignty of other countries.

"We do not agree with the fact that, given the situation facing a sister country like Paraguay, he (President Hugo Chávez) has the power to suspend oil shipment, that the sauce that is tasty on turkey is also tasty on chicken: If we're against a blockade on Cuba, who gives my competing candidate the right to block Paraguay?" he exclaimed, reminding that oil blockades do not affect governments, they affect the people.

Capriles added that that way of managing international affairs and other aspects of national life is the wrong way to run a country. "Who gives the other candidate the right to unilaterally decide, like bravado, to make these choices? This is the kind of government we will change on October 7. The owners of Venezuela and its oil are the Venezuelans. The government is merely the administrator of its resources."

"I always say that after God come people. There is someone around who claims he ranks with God. Think to yourself what it means to believe you are God; the power is in the hands of the people," the candidate said.

Diplomatic ties with democracies only

When discussing Venezuela's foreign policy, the challenger reiterated that the country's relationships should only be with democratic nations that have liberty and that respect human rights. "Those are the kinds of good friends that this country should have," he explained.

He talked about the president of Belarus's visit to the country, who he thinks "is not a good example of democracy for the world because he has been in power since the early 90's."

"They don't come to buy Venezuelan products. The people do not benefit from these visits. They come so that we can sign their agreements to buy more from other countries."

He considers the current model of government to be one that has "changed Venezuela into a huge importer of everything and one that has destroyed its productive capacity."

He stated that the official propaganda confuses the people, and because of it, every fact must be restated: "with Iran, for example, (Venezuela) has signed 270 agreements for about USD 5 million since December 2011."

According to Capriles, a specific example of our trade relations with Iran "is the national bicycle factory, whose agreement was signed in 2007, a state-run joint venture... where are the bicycles?"

He said that there are many other examples like that one that can be exposed in detail to see what really happened with them, and whether Venezuela won anything from said agreements.

Translated by Alejandro Osio