Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodríguez attended the start of the second term of the 2025-2026 school year nationwide on Monday, January 12. Over six million children returned to their academic activities around Venezuela.

During the day, Rodríguez inaugurated the state-of-the-art Pedro Camejo National School, designed for 106 students in Catia La Mar, La Guaira state. The acting president also oversaw the simultaneous inauguration of 11 other schools, bringing the total number of new and renovated school centers to 1,725 nationwide.

The acting president emphasised that, in response to recent US military attacks on civil infrastructure, Venezuela mobilized and organized popular power to ensure that public education remains operational and free of charge.

Education Minister Héctor Rodríguez reported that school enrollment in the country reached 97%, driven by the strengthening of the School Meals Program (PAE), which serves two million students daily with domestically produced food. As part of this effort, 100 new trucks were added to optimize program logistics, increasing its reach by 36%. Meanwhile, 400,000 teachers were deployed to classrooms to ensure the continuity of the academic calendar.

Currently, Venezuela maintains a unified governance scheme headed by Acting President Rodríguez, as the constitutional president, Nicolás Maduro, remains in a US prison since his illegal abduction.

The Venezuelan state is focusing its efforts on restoring basic services and maintaining social programs such as the PAE. The restoration of 200 of the 226 schools in La Guaira state, along with the nationwide distribution of technological equipment and furniture, is part of the plan to heal the wounds of the US imperialist aggression against the country.

“We ratify and reaffirm the sovereignty of Venezuela,” the acting president stated, adding that “here, there is a government that runs Venezuela, there is an interim president, and there is a president held hostage in the United States. We govern together with the organized people, and we are advancing in respectful international relations, within the framework of international law.”

Diplomatic relations with US and Italy
Also on Monday, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello reported that progress is being made in opening the Venezuelan Embassy in the United States.

He highlighted that this will allow Venezuela to have consular representation in the US, so that the safety and security of the constitutional president, Nicolás Maduro, and First Lady Cilia Flores can be ensured, along with the well-being of Venezuelans living in the country.

“That is the fundamental objective, to allow us to have someone there. Because at this moment, we have no one. They are being held hostage, and we have no one except for the lawyers, who are not Venezuelan. We appreciate what they are doing, but they are not Venezuelan,” Cabello added.

Foreign Minister Yván Gil announced that Venezuela and Italy have decided to elevate their diplomatic missions to the rank of ambassadors, following a telephone conversation with his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani.

“We have agreed to elevate the level of our diplomatic missions to the rank of ambassadors. In the coming days, we will be making the corresponding announcements and contacts,” Gil stated on Monday.

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The agreement comes after the release of two Italian citizens detained in Caracas since the end of 2024. This had generated tensions in the bilateral relationship, in addition to the recurrent European support of US imperial aggression against Venezuela.

During the conversation, both foreign ministers assessed the possibility of working on a bilateral agenda to strengthen political, economic, and cultural ties between the two countries.

Minister Gil reported that he had explained to Tajani the situation generated by the recent US military attacks against Venezuela, which caused dozens of deaths among civilians and military personnel, in open violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.

(Telesur) with Orinoco Tribune content

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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