On August 9, it was discovered that the Lisbon District Court had instructed the New Bank of Portugal to reimburse 1.5 billion dollars to Venezuela. These were currencies that had been deposited in the bank and were unlawfully withheld from the Venezuelan State in 2019, a few weeks after the United States and its European Allies recognized Juan Guaidó as the supposed president – an opposition leader whom almost no one knew in Venezuela and who declared himself president one day in 2019. Despite being a move entirely outside the law, the truth is that they attempted to justify the embezzlement of Venezuelan assets abroad, the total of which reaches 31 billion dollars.
The ruling by the Lisbon Court stipulates that these funds must be returned to the Venezuelan Government, and that late-payment interest must also be paid.
From Caracas, they celebrated this decision and clarified several things:
First, that these resources will be utilized for social investment.
Secondly, that this country will persist in undertaking all actions at its disposal to reclaim all resources that rightfully belong to the Venezuelan people and that remain illicitly obstructed in foreign financial entities.
Thirdly, Venezuela reserves the right to pursue appropriate measures for the damages inflicted on the population by these unlawful maneuvers.
And although the money that Nuevo Banco was ordered to unfreeze has not yet been returned to the Venezuelan government, the judicial decision represents a significant victory for this country and for legality.
Firstly, because it acknowledges that there is no interim government and that the only president is the one whom the majority of the population voted for, namely, Nicolás Maduro.
It asserts that this money belongs to the Venezuelans.
It affirms that the only entities that should receive and manage those funds are the ones that opened those accounts – that is, the Economic and Social Development Bank of Venezuela.
Because Venezuelans do not forget that in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, when the government asked them to release part of those resources to be able to buy vaccines and medicines, that bank refused, as did others who bet on the collapse of this country.
President Nicolás Maduro had retaliated during that vile attack aimed at blocking the purchase of medicines and food:
“It is not money from Maduro. It is money from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela! The vast majority of it was already allocated for medicines that the people need. Government of Portugal. Medicines that the people need! Food that the people need!”
Venezuela still has to recover many of its assets abroad. Among them are the CITGO Refinery and the 31 tons of gold deposited in a Bank of England. And although it seems like an uphill path, the victory against the New Bank marks an important precedent. A victory that gives strength to the fight of Venezuela to recover everything that opposition leaders in alliance with foreign powers tried to steal from this country.
In response to this decision, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Iván Gil expressed on his official account:
“Venezuela wins a lawsuit and recovers a large part of the assets in Portugal. This is the result of long work and above all the resistance of the Venezuelan people and the Government of Nicolás Maduro, who do not allow themselves to be subdued by threats from imperialism and the coup’s surrender .”
President Nicolás Maduro exclaimed:
“Venezuela has not renounced, nor will it renounce, the fight to reclaim all the money that belongs to the Venezuelans, all the assets that belong to the Venezuelans! We have not renounced, nor will we renounce, and when the physical recovery of that money is achieved, along with other funds, we Venezuelans know that it must be directed towards guaranteeing the social rights of the people, ensuring public services for the people! All Venezuelans know that we have not given up and will not give up on reclaiming that money which rightfully belongs to the Venezuelans and was stolen from us. It is an unequivocally unjust decision against international public law!”
The people and the Bolivarian Revolution have heroically resisted all the attacks by imperialism. With their own work and effort, this socialist revolution has diversified its production to the point of reaching almost total self-sufficiency. The leadership of the PSUV, headed by President Nicolás Maduro, has wisely navigated these last 8 years of hybrid warfare and economic conflict. Venezuelan diplomacy and the high positions of the Bolivarian Revolution have continued to serve as an example throughout Latin America. As a result, significant strides have been taken towards the Latin American union. Our Commander Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías sowed millions of seeds that today have grown into fertile trees within the revolution. Socialist men and women are building the great homeland of Bolívar.
On this journey, CELAC, founded in 2013 at the initiative of Commander Chávez and Commander Fidel, is integrating into the multipolar world as a heavyweight willing to collaborate alongside BRICS, the Arab League, and Pan-Africanism to deliver a definitive knockout blow to imperialism and its centuries of genocide, looting, invasions, bombings, massacres, and other atrocities. 21st-century socialism is drawing closer to becoming the new global economic system, with the next step being the BRICS Summit from August 22-24, now in Johannesburg, South Africa. We are achieving the union of the peoples of the world, and our comrades such as Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Fidel, Che, Chávez, Tomás Sankara, among many others, would be pleased to see it. Workers of the world, unite! Long live the revolution! Long live the multipolar world!
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