Caracas, Venezuela. Thursday, January 1, 2026.- For the tenth consecutive time, the president of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro agreed to give us a “New Year’s interview”. We recorded it in Caracas late in the afternoon on December 31, as night was falling over the beautiful capital of the country and 2025 was coming to an end. This time, President Maduro proposed that we do a “traveling interview.” That is, that we hold our conversation aboard his personal vehicle, which he himself was driving, while we drove through the lively streets of the city. Accompanying us in the back seats were Cilia Flores, the president’s wife and First Combatant, and Freddy Ñáñez, a young and brilliant Sectoral Vice President of Culture and Communication. No visible bodyguards, no armed people.
This time, President Maduro’s statements have a very particular interest because, for more than five months, his country has been pressured by a powerful US navy stationed off its coasts. Also because the President of the United States has not stopped issuing threats against Venezuela’s sovereignty. And because this tense situation puts President Nicolas Maduro right at the heart of current international affairs.
Ignacio Ramonet: First, Mr. President, I thank you very much for granting me this “New Year’s interview” for the tenth consecutive time. I know you have a very busy schedule, especially under the current circumstances… I would like to start by addressing an economic topic: a report from ECLAC—The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean—was just published stating that the highest economic growth in Latin America in 2025 was Venezuela’s, estimated at 9%. My question is: how, under the circumstances of a blocked country, a country subjected to so many unilateral and illegal coercive measures, a country militarily threatened at this moment by the United States, do you achieve this “economic miracle”?
President Nicolas Maduro: That’s a good question, you hear? First I want to greet our guests, Cilia Flores, my wife, special guest; and here is the philosopher and poet, Alfred Nazaret Ñáñez, staying attentive to everything. Look, this is the second consecutive year that Venezuela leads the growth of the real economy in Latin America and the Caribbean. We have had twenty continuous quarters since, in 2021, we took off.
I remember when I presented the economic plan to you for the interview you published on January 1, 2022, which can be reviewed—back then we were saying that we had designed a plan of economic engines so that each engine would start running on its own power. Economic engines that were truly Venezuelan in root, inherent and relevant to the reality, they weren’t made-up things. And the development of each engine, in its real growth capacity and in the coordination of all engines, was already beginning to bring results.
Already in 2021, we had the first two quarters of miraculous growth, and we were in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. I came up with the method known as the 7×7 Method that allowed us to start that growth. From a spiritual point of view, it is called a “miracle,” but from the perspective of Venezuelan identity, I would say that the growth of this new economy—now with 14 engines—is the result of the entrepreneurial spirit and the way the entire society reshaped itself, reinvented itself. The Venezuelan family, the person, the entrepreneur, the businessman, the worker, reinvented themselves. From the simplest businesses: selling coffee, selling arepas… People reshaped themselves, the countryside reshaped itself and began to produce… When it was always said that it was impossible. Producing food in Venezuela, meat, milk, chicken, corn, rice, and the list goes on.Everything that was previously bought with oil money. The oil flow distorted everything.
We did not choose to have a rentier model dependent on oil. When I was born in 1962, the rentier capitalist oil-dependent model had already been imposed. We were an American oil colony. What we did choose was to start building the foundations to break the oil rentier system, to build our own model. Commander Chávez left us the guidelines in the “Plan of the Homeland,” and we tested that in the worst moment, in the middle of the blockade they imposed on us when they took away 99% of our oil revenues…
At that moment, nothing was produced in Venezuela. And, without resources, we could no longer import anything… That was when we said: let’s move forward, let’s rise up in this situation. And that’s what happened: Venezuela grew, from a spiritual point of view, from the doctrinal point of view of economic policy. We designed an absolutely correct policy, that of a real economy, with real values, which became a new productive force. And what is growing?
In 2024 we had 9% growth, and in 2025 it will be around 9% as well, maybe more. What is growing? The real economy is growing, the economy that produces goods, services, that produces wealth at an advanced stage, which is truly astonishing. Because the real economy grows, I repeat, every sector among the 14 motors grows. And the big challenge now —as I have been pointing out— is for these 14 motors to implement a strategy that reduces to almost completely eliminate everything imported. We must do everything in Venezuela.
Second: we must have an export line that is not oil. New sources of foreign currency. And third: supply the market. But I could say the best formula is to radically substitute all imports, all of them. Until reaching zero imports. And produce everything to continue supplying 100% of the national market.
Ignacio Ramonet: …In food.
Nicolas Maduro: No, in everything, in everything. We’re talking about public services, goods, all the needs of the country, clothing, shoes, everything, everything, produce everything.
Ignacio Ramonet: Vehicles?
Nicolas Maduro: Yes, vehicles, of course. And third: continue growing the great non-oil export engine. Continue growing the export of seafood; organic products from the land… Keep exporting our coffee, the best in the world; export chocolate, cacao, etc. We’ve already paved the way, we are exporting more and more. So our economy has great challenges to keep integrating. Because no one can declare victory. This is still happening, building itself. And the 14 motors have shown great vitality. The good news is that, for the second consecutive year, we lead, from besieged, threatened Venezuela, the economic growth in all of Latin America and the Caribbean. It’s great news.
Ignacio Ramonet: President, that economic success does not prevent inflation from rising again. I ask you, in this very difficult geopolitical context, what strategies does your government have to control inflation, to stabilize the currency, and to improve the purchasing power of pensioners, workers, and employees?
Nicolas Maduro: First of all, we have had an absolutely correct strategy, which is indexation. This is not talked about in the world… It’s a formula we have tested… Indexation, together with entrepreneurship, family ventures, and workers’ cooperatives, has allowed Venezuela to have one of the most powerful internal markets, and since September 2024 we have what I call an “internal overheating of commerce.” Right now, in December 2025, trade in sales and consumption grew by 34%,”So there is a very significant overheating. But domestic products already cover 90% of the entire demand for products in the national market. And the trade growth is 34% again this year… Which means there is a real purchasing capacity; a real consumption capacity in the Venezuelan family. And the Venezuelan family knows that this is the case. But that has to be consolidated as a model.
The other issue has to do with the permanent speculative attack on our currency, the bolívar. It is a matter that we have managed to overcome in stages. Because that has also become what we could call the central objective of the extreme right and the economic threat and blockade campaigns of the empire.
One of their objectives now, with this whole issue of the attack on oil tankers, on Venezuela’s oil sales, is to once again disrupt the monetary life and the balances that we have already achieved and consolidated in previous stages. It is a disturbance that we know how to face, that we will face, and when we do our interview in a year, you will see that we have already overcome it.
Ignacio Ramonet: President, I want to address another topic that is not talked about much. And it is the originality of the Venezuelan political model. This year 2025, you have very much encouraged the Communal State and I ask you, in this current context of so many threats against Venezuela, why have you decided to deepen popular self-management instead of centralizing control? Is the Commune the Bolivarian political response to the dominant liberal democracy model in the West? Is there a specific new Venezuelan democracy model that you are thinking of?
Nicolas Maduro: I believe this model was born with The Blue Book, from 1990, by Commander Chavez, when he was already talking about “Bolivarian democracy,” popular democracy. Without a doubt, Western democracy, the classical democracy they call liberal, has entered a terminal exhaustion. It no longer represents the people; they are democracies without people; they are manipulated, manipulable democracies; they are democracies for minorities; and increasingly they are democracies that function based on billionaires, large conglomerates… They are democracies subjected to manipulation by social networks, to the emotional manipulation of social networks. So the community, the citizen, has no power in those democracies. Fundamentally. That does not mean there are no positive experiences in what they call “Western democracy.” Of course there are.
But from the beginning, here we had an original project, inspired by Bolívar, Simón Rodríguez and Ezequiel Zamora. Commander Chavez, in The Blue Book, proposes remaking democracy through a popular constituent process. And remaking the formula of democracy to build a democracy for every day. A permanent democracy. A democracy with people. Where full power is given to the people. And what is power? First, power is political. To decide. To decide public policies. Secondly, power is economic. To decide the budgets. To decide the nation’s budgets. And third, the power of culture. The power of education. So that is what we are building. Commander Chavez founded the Communal Councils, founded the Council of Communes. And you undoubtedly remember how Chavez entrusted it to me, but he entrusted it to all of us. He said to me: “Nicolas,” grabbing my shoulder, “I entrust you with the communes as I would entrust you with my life.”
When he said that, I felt here on my shoulder, next to him, the weight of the centuries… But fortunately our people took on that weight, and now it does not weigh on me. Look, my shoulders are quite free, because our people is now exercising direct democracy.
This year we had four national consultations. Ah, of course, for AP, EFE, CNN, UPI, AFP. For Western media, direct democracy does not exist. For them, what exists is a permanent attack against Bolivarian Venezuela. But here I challenge anyone who wants to debate, whoever they are, whatever their name or position, I challenge them to debate in any neighborhood of Caracas they want to go to, to debate with our people, not with me, but to debate with the people. So they can see how a new democracy is being built.
We do not aim to be a model for anyone, but we do feel proud of what we are building. So the people are becoming empowered, forged, and educated. There have been four consultations, one per quarter, and this year we also approved, the figure is 33,000 popular projects financed and built, which include works, health clinics, popular health clinics called CDI, schools, high schools, roads, highways, infrastructure, houses for grandparents, houses for youth, and the list goes on. Resolution, solving problems.
Where do the projects come from? From the neighborhood assembly. And how are the projects approved? Not by a mayor, a minister, or a president. I do not approve for this community; I do not say: look, do this or that, no. The people approve it with their vote. 33,000 projects… More than 330 million dollars were invested. Where did those 330 million dollars come from? Their equivalent in Bolívares came from the 14 engines, from taxes collected, from exports, from oil, from those oil tankers that go out… All of this then turns into community works; it becomes solutions to needs.
So I believe we are building a vigorous democracy, one of a permanent cycle, with direct participation, where the people have the power and only the people decide. That is why I take Chavez’s expression as my own when he said “It is not a man, it is a people.” It is not Maduro, it is a Republic, it is a people.
What Maduro does is act as the interpreter of a power that is popular power.
Ignacio Ramonet: How many communes are there currently in the country?
Nicolas Maduro: There are 49,000 communal councils. And there are 4,100 communes. But we are organized for quarterly consultations in 5,336 communal circuits. How is this? Well, where there are communes, the commune coordinates the communal councils and it is a communal circuit. But where there are no communes yet, communal circuits are organized so people can vote and decide. So it is our own model. We didn’t copy it from anyone.
Ignacio Ramonet: And is that both in the city and in the countryside? Both in the capital and in the states?
Nicolas Maduro: Yes. From north to south, from east to west. You go into the farthest mountain, the hamlet, the countryside, the neighborhood you want to go into right now, and there is a communal council, a commune, there is spokesperson, leadership.
70% of the leadership are women. So, 2025 has been the big bang of Venezuela’s democratic power.
Ignacio Ramonet: Mr. President, you have criticized and denounced, as you just did, the existence of a media and cognitive war against Venezuela, against the Bolivarian process. How is your government fighting so that the truth about what is happening here reaches international public opinion? Especially at a moment like this when communication is dominated by social networks.
Nicolas Maduro: We have created a national system that is already starting to have international impact too, and what I call in a book I published like a manual: “From the streets to the networks, from the networks to the media, from the media to the walls.” And the Radio Bemba that in other places is called Word of Mouth.
So, we have been building that system. There is still much to do, but I really feel very happy about how millions of men and women here in Venezuela and around the world defend the truth of Venezuela.
The war is cognitive because the war is for the brain, the brain handles emotions and concepts. And to counter a cognitive war you have to create strength of awareness, strength of values, spiritual strength and fight the battle with the truth. Our greatest weapon is not a nuclear rocket, our greatest weapon is the truth of Venezuela, which is unassailable, overwhelming, and when a breach opens for us to speak our truth the lights turn on for the good of our country. We defend our right to peace, we defend our right to national sovereignty, international law that guarantees the self-determination of peoples. We defend the right to the future and development.
These are fundamental rights guaranteed by the United Nations and by all international treaties. The right to the development of peoples, the right to the future, the right to peace. We also defend a glorious history, the history of the liberators of America. So I believe this system of streets, networks, media, and walls will gain more and more strength, more substance, and will allow us, in 2026 and in the coming years, for Venezuela to be known for its truths and not for so much manipulation and dirty attacks they carry out.
Ignacio Ramonet: Mr. President, precisely in that sense, recent independent polls show that there is currently in Venezuela a great consensus among the population to reject the current US military threats. How do you interpret this popular support and what strategies are you implementing to keep the Venezuelan people united?
Nicolas Maduro: I think people, especially in the world, I would say, because I speak from the heart of a person who was raised as a simple person. I am not a magnate, I don’t want to be, I want to continue being a simple man of the people, who governs from the people and with the people. Now, in the world they have to understand, US public opinion has to understand,That our peoples in the South have the right to exist, to live… That you cannot try to impose with the Monroe Doctrine, nor with any doctrine, a new colonial model, a new hegemonic model, a new interventionist model, a model where countries would have to resign themselves to being a colony of a power, and we the peoples slaves of new masters… That is unfeasible. In the 21st century, it is totally unfeasible. And they have to understand these numbers given by the polls, I imagine that at the highest decision-making levels of the State in the United States, of the State in general, of all institutions, they must have reliable data on how the citizenry behaves, because there is something they now call Big Data, and they do it with artificial intelligence, and you can have the public opinion of all countries…
I’m going to confess a secret to you, can I confess it?
Ignacio Ramonet: Here we are for that, this is a confessional…
Nicolas Maduro: [laughs] We have advanced artificial intelligence and Big Data and artificial intelligence from many countries. It’s not complicated to understand. We have the technology, it’s not only one of our ways to measure public facts but also those of other countries… So those world powers also have it, and they have to know that the immunological reaction of Venezuelan society in the face of the assault and theft of its oil has been 95% rejection. The current United States government has to know that in Venezuela and Latin America, but I speak for Venezuela, I’m not going to give you data from Latin America, we can talk about that another day, in another conversation now in January… They have to know that 95% of the citizens reject what the current United States government is doing when it militarily threatens Venezuela. It is the immunological reaction of the entire Venezuelan society. They have to know that the person they have put as the top boss of the right wing is very isolated and repudiated in Venezuela.
Today we could say the United States has no allied political force in Venezuela, because this lady called María Machado — in Venezuela they call her “Sayona” — has 85% rejection, total repudiation from Venezuelan society. Neither she nor what she represents could ever have the capacity to govern this country.
I know they know it. In the North, they know it, and generally in the world, they know it. And they have to know that we, the patriotic forces of the country, President Maduro and far beyond the PSUV, far beyond the Great Patriotic Pole, right now have over 70% support in the struggle I am giving for the defense of national sovereignty and for peace. Over 70%.
Those numbers we had never had before. And certainly there has been support here for Commander Chavez in all his stages, and certainly we have won support in different stages as we have demonstrated in electoral processes.
So these are very strong numbers that tell you the state of national public opinion and how Venezuela has achieved a level of consensus, of national unity never seen before. Never seen before! I call it the perfect popular military police union, but we could even call it the broadest union of all sectors, the national union that we had never had.
That is the natural immunological response of Venezuelan society to the illegal, disproportionate, threatening, warlike aggression we have suffered for 28 continuous weeks.
Ignacio Ramonet: Let’s then talk about the U.S. military threat. Venezuela has been under this naval military threat on the Venezuelan coasts for more than five months. And the question many people ask is, how do you interpret the intent of the United States? What is Washington looking for? Do they want to pressure to break that national cohesion we just talked about, the unity of the Bolivarian revolution,The unity of the Bolivarian National Armed Force? Or are they trying to launch a real attack to proceed with what is called a “regime change”? How do you interpret that threat?
Nicolas Maduro: I think there is an open debate in the society of the United States, and here in Venezuela as well, what is the current US government seeking with all these threats? Unusual, illegal, extravagant as well.
And what is their goal? What are they looking for? It is evident that they seek to impose themselves through threats, intimidation, and force. All this violates the international right to peace established after the postwar period with the founding of the United Nations in 1945, precisely recently marking 80 years since the founding of the United Nations. And international law, the UN Charter, which is the backbone of all international law since the postwar period, expressly prohibits and condemns a country threatening another with the use of force. It prohibits it, condemns it, and establishes it as an international crime. And it condemns and prohibits the use of force by one State against another. Among other elements…
This has great legal, juridical content. They are blatantly violating international laws and also there is a large ethical, moral component. Because the people of the United States have to ask themselves if they elected their current government to start military interventions again in Latin America. To the US public opinion, to social communicators, but above all to ordinary people, to the youth of the United States, to the Christian people, my Christian brothers and sisters, from the Christian Churches—I am a member of a Church—I ask them if it is ethical, moral, and Christian to do what their government is doing.
If they elected their government to start military interventions again in Latin America and the Caribbean; to seek regime changes by force in Latin America and the Caribbean; to carry out coups d’état, promote coups d’état in Latin America and the Caribbean. To start preparing for a great war, one of those “eternal” wars. Because I have said it in my speeches and in my song as well “Not war, not crazy war.” Right? “Not crazy war. Yes peace.” I have said it, and I even said it before—it later became a song. I have said no to another Vietnam war again. Or are they proud in the United States of what happened in Vietnam? I don’t think so.
If you take a survey, 80% of the US population does not want a new Vietnam war. They don’t want a new Afghanistan war. Or are they proud of Afghanistan? Oh, they’re going to bring a Vietnam war, an Afghanistan war, an Iraq war, a Libya war here to the Caribbean, in South America. These are reflections. These are reflections. So the policy of the current US government is against what the US society aspires to and what humanity aspires to.
Because humanity aspires to dialogue, diplomacy, peace, respect between States, respect among peoples. We are within our rights. I, as President, am within my Law. We are within our Law, international law, the Constitution. We are defending what is most sacred to us: our land, our natural resources. Because, what is the goal? What is the goal of the current US government? They have already said it. They have already said it. Eh? To seize all of Venezuela’s oil. They have already said it. The gold. The rare earth elements. Venezuela’s riches.
So there is an expression in Spanish that goes, “Not like this! Not like this!” We want peace. We want respect for international law. And let us wait for the weeks and months to come, so that the US society, the world society, can generate responses to dissipate and end all of this threat.
Ignacio Ramonet: The most serious American media have already said that some of the arguments put forward by the US administration in this pressure against Venezuela, for example, saying that Venezuela is a “cocaine-producing country,” have already been said to be untrue. It is not said by the Venezuelan government, it is stated by the US media themselves. It doesn’t make sense. It does not correspond to the reality demonstrated by anyone knowledgeable about the subject. And regarding the oil issue, the statement by the US president, saying he disagrees with the “nationalization of oil” that took place in 1976, that is, long before Chavismo, also makes no sense. So the concrete argumentation for this military pressure is not clearly seen.
Nicolas Maduro: Look, about the drugs I can tell you. Venezuela has a model, I would say, perfect, for combatting drug trafficking. Today we managed to destroy the foreign plane of Colombian drug trafficking, number forty. Who? The Venezuelan Sukhois. To the pilots, my recognition. Today in combat in the Venezuelan Llano the last operational chief of the Tren del Llano was neutralized, in Guárico, along with four of his criminal henchmen. He was the last one remaining from the Tren del Llano. We have a perfect model of combatting drug trafficking, criminal gangs. So, all the cocaine moving in this region is produced in Colombia. All of it. All the cocaine. We are victims of Colombian drug trafficking.
Not just today, for decades. And with our model, we have managed to control the impact that Colombian drug trafficking had in Venezuela in past times.
So, we have a tremendous fight at the border. We dedicate billions of resources to have police, soldiers, operations, because the Colombian border is totally devoid of military police protection. We have created three peace zones in the 2,200 kilometers of border with Colombia. But there is no collaboration on the Colombian side. So, we have to do all the work ourselves.
And these forty aircraft shot down, the forty came from Colombia… With the law in hand, the interdiction law, they were warned in time, everything that had to be done was done, and then, bam bam bam, the rockets from the Sukhoi fighter jets.
Today we have reached 431 foreign and Colombian drug trafficking aircraft shot down… With the law in hand. So we have an exemplary and very effective model.
Everything else, look, is part of a narrative that even in the United States they do not believe for any reason. And simply, since they cannot accuse me, since they cannot accuse Venezuela of having weapons of mass destruction, since they cannot accuse us of having nuclear rockets, of preparing a nuclear weapon, of having chemical weapons, they invented an accusation that the United States knows is as false as that accusation of weapons of mass destruction, which led them to an eternal war.
In the United States, they know that is false. So, I think all that should be set aside and we should start talking seriously, with data in hand, and the US government knows this, because we have told many of its spokespeople, that if they want to talk seriously about an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we are ready. If they want Venezuelan oil, Venezuela is ready for US investments like with Chevron, whenever they want, wherever they want, and however they want.
In the United States, they should know that if they want comprehensive economic development agreements, also here in Venezuela — I have said it a thousand times — look at what happened with the migrants issue. I have to tell you, because we reached an agreement on January 31, 2024, with the envoy Rick Grenell, it was working perfectly, and three weeks ago, the US government authorities renounced continuing to send migrants to Venezuela,and they simply didn’t send more migrants… So they talk about the migration issue, but they are the ones who suspended the migration agreement, among other issues. If someday there were rationality and diplomacy, they could perfectly well talk, and we have the maturity and the stature. Besides, we are people of our word, Ramonet. We are people of our word, serious people. And someday that could be discussed, with the current government or with whoever comes next.
Ignacio Ramonet: A very important question, President, among the latest statements in Washington, they say there has been a kind of “ground attack” in Venezuela, supposedly against a drug manufacturing factory. Your government has so far neither confirmed nor denied this information. What could you tell us about that?
Nicolas Maduro: Look, that might be a topic we discuss in a few days, in a second version of this podcast, right? Surely in a few days we could talk about it. What I can tell you is that our national defense system, which combines popular, military, and police forces, has guaranteed and continues to guarantee the territorial integrity, the peace of the country, and the use and enjoyment of all our territories. And our people are safe and at peace.
Ignacio Ramonet: You had a direct conversation with President Donald Trump, right? And lately, it has been said that there was a second conversation. Can you confirm if there was this second conversation with President Trump?
Nicolas Maduro: I have seen speculations about a second conversation. We have had, Ramonet, only one conversation. He called me on Friday, November 21 last, from the White House, and I was at the Miraflores Palace. We talked for 10 minutes. It was a conversation, as I have said, respectful, very respectful, cordial.
Ignacio Ramonet: What did President Trump say to you?
Nicolas Maduro: The first thing he said was, “Mr. President Maduro.” And I said, “Mr. President Donald Trump.” And I think that conversation was even pleasant. But after that, the post-conversation developments have not been pleasant.
Let’s hope. I entrust everything to God. Almighty God. Creator of heaven and earth. Especially on a day like today, December 31. With a wonderful, majestic sky, with that color as the afternoon falls, in this peaceful and beautiful Caracas. I entrust everything to God, God knows what he is doing. We must act with ethics, with morality, with patriotism, with love for our homeland.
For 2026, which is the year I have called the “year of the Admirable Challenge,” we will overcome disturbances, problems, and we will continue consolidating a country like Venezuela, a country at peace. And to the people of the United States, I say what I have been telling them: here in Venezuela, they have a brotherly people. To the people of the United States, I even say, here you have a friendly government. I know the United States well; I’ve driven quite a bit around New York, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Queens, Manhattan, Washington, I’ve driven quite a bit.
I told the President of the United States that. I know Constitution Avenue very well, which is beautiful. Pennsylvania Avenue, where the statue honoring Bolívar stands. The Lincoln monument, which is beautiful. And I have driven a lot around there. The U.S. people should know that here they have a friendly, peaceful people, and they also have a friendly government; they should know that. And our slogan is very clear: Not war, yes peace.
Ignacio Ramonet: Last question, President, precisely on this. We have seen you these last weeks, under these undeniable pressure circumstances, very active in public and very supported by the popular masses. That is, you are not in a bunker, protecting yourself from this threat. You are surrounded by people, and some of your interventions have gone around the world. Precisely this slogan “not war, yes peace,” in several songs that have been made. I think social networks have shown great sympathy towards you. And I want us to end with a personal reflection from you. How do you live this situation personally, psychologically, spiritually, in the face of the threat of an attack by the world’s top military power?
Nicolas Maduro: I have an infallible bunker: Almighty God.I handed Venezuela over to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the king of kings. The king here, of our homeland. I entrust myself to him every day. I entrust our homeland to him. Always, not now, always. And besides, the people are our greatest shield, our greatest inspiration, our greatest energy. Because through that people we have received everything we are.
And for that people, we give everything we are. I, simply put, am not just myself. I represent a historical project of 500 years of struggle. I could say, I am Guaicaipuro, I am Zamora, I am Chávez, because I am the people. And to wrap oneself in the people, to embrace the people, to hand power over to the people, is the reason for being, and the essence of our historical project, and by following that path, we will always do well, always, under any circumstance. Our absolute decision is to be loyal to the oath to take our homeland to greatness. But for Venezuela to be great, we don’t have to harm anyone. Right? Just like the United States, which wants to be great again. Well, let them be great through effort, through work, through a pacifist vocation. And not through threats, nor through war. Enough already, no more war. These are convictions. What moves us are convictions, commitments, oaths, and a divine, sacred force that cannot be seen. Because God is with us, and as our people say: “If God is with us, who can be against us?” So victory under any circumstance will always belong to us. That is why the calm, the serenity, and the confidence that we are defending the most just cause that has ever been defended. And that the victory of peace belongs to us.
Ignacio Ramonet: Thank you, President, and happy new year.
(This interview was recorded on video for television. Its total duration is 1 hour and 4 minutes. This written version is shorter. I myself have edited it by removing less central aspects and keeping the most essential parts, especially those relating to the current international scenario.
IR.
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