Venezuela could create Russia, China-allied regional bloc

• 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro proposed creating a regional bloc between Latin American and Caribbean countries that have good relations with China and Russia, Russian news outlet RT reported on Saturday.

Maduro underlined during his annual speech at the Venezuelan parliament that he recently spoke with Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and Argentine President Alberto Fernández about forming a new regional organization in this regard.

The time has come to unite efforts and paths in Latin America and the Caribbean to advance in the formation of a powerful bloc of political forces, of economic power that speaks to the world," Maduro underlined.

According to Maduro, the new bloc in question would contribute to the creation of "new poles of power" and would be allied with Russia and China.

The alliance that the Venezuelan president is talking about would "comprise that community of shared destiny that our elder brother [Chinese] President Xi Jinping talks about," or the "multipolar and multicentric world that our elder brother [Russian] President Vladimir Putin talks about," he explained.

For the world that the Chinese and Russian leaders are talking about to be realized, it is necessary for there to be a "united and advanced Latin American and Caribbean bloc."

Putin has on several occasions lambasted the US-dominated "unipolar world", explaining back in September that all the attempts to arrive at this end result "have taken an absolutely ugly form."

Putin criticized in September the Western attempts to create a unipolar world, as he called it, and praised China's "balanced" approach toward the war in Ukraine, in a meeting with Xi.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Washington's "farce" regarding Venezuela's opposition is to maintain control over the Latin American country's resources.

The Venezuelan opposition voted out in late December the head of the "interim government" Juan Guaido, the US-sponsored self-proclaimed "interim president".

The Venezuelan opposition's congress later on January 5 replaced Guaido and announced the appointment of Dinorah Figuera as "president" and Marianela Fernandez and Auristela Vasquez as "vice presidents" for the 2023-2024 legislative period.

“It is obvious that the tasks of the patrons of the 'color revolution' that did not take place in Venezuela remain the same... The ultimate goal of this farce is not hidden - to keep control over the Venezuelan state financial resources in foreign jurisdiction," the Russian Ministry stated.

Venezuela was thrown into a political crisis in January 2019 when Juan Guaido, the former head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, backed by the US, declared himself "interim president" in an attempt to depose democratically re-elected President Nicolas Maduro.

The United States and most Western countries backed Guaido and imposed crippling sanctions on Venezuela, while Russia, China, Turkey, and a number of other countries backed Maduro.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has recently confirmed that his government is ready to develop the process of normalizing political and diplomatic relations with the US, following Washington's ease of sanctions against the oil-rich country as the West is facing the backlash of its sanctions against Russia linked to the war in Ukraine.