MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. Based on their actions towards Venezuela, the United States and the European Union are seeking to undermine the Latin American country and depose its President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan Ambassador to Russia Carlos Rafael Faria Tortosa stated in an interview with TASS on Thursday.
The diplomat said Venezuela is currently facing a financial blockade. "Action has been taken and continues to be taken to ruin our economy and overthrow our government," the diplomat specified.
"Possibly, an oil embargo will be declared shortly. Measures have been taken to block our bank accounts - we have about $1.6 billion frozen in different banks and enterprises controlled by the US," the ambassador went on to say.
"At the moment, we are not allowed to use the international financial system so that we fail to fulfill our commitments to our partners and suppliers of raw materials, food products and medicines," the envoy pointed out. "We are forced to resort to more complicated and costly means to find a way out," he added. Torosa also spoke of an existing mechanism to evaluate the exchange rate for the US dollar to Venezuela’s currency.
"A website was created to upload data on the value of the currency without any economic justification. This cost is fictional and overrated," he stressed. "This is done for one aim - to raise the price of the dollar hundreds and thousands of times to keep hyperinflation in the country," he added.
"We know the people who are working on this Internet page - they are Venezuelan nationals working in the US," the diplomat pointed out. "They are enemies of our government, and although the Venezuelan authorities speak out against these people because their activity is totally illegal," he added. The diplomat stressed that since these illegal efforts are in line with US policy, they have gone unpunished there.
Instigating collapse
Moreover, Venezuelan banknotes are being illegally smuggled. "The Venezuelan bolivar is exported abroad in huge amounts, mainly to Colombia, in order to ruin our economy," the diplomat stressed. "They are using our own money to buy our own products, for example gasoline, that is also trafficked abroad," he noted.
"Thus we have an outflow of cash from the country and it is getting difficult for the population to even buy essentials," Tortosa stressed.
He also drew attention to numerous media reports saying inflation in Venezuela could skyrocket to one million percent by the year’s end. "With this in view, I would like to ask what else can happen in the country if all the above measures are taken against it with the aim of doing away with the country and its government?" he questioned.
"Here they are, double standards - speculating about an awful crisis hitting the country and at the same time triggering this situation," he specified.
"This plan has been well thought out and prepared. It is materializing both in the economy and in the information sector. As a result, hundreds of media outlets are falsifying Venezuelan reality," the ambassador said. "They are trying to blame all developments on our government. I am speaking about the US, and EU members that seek to overthrow our legitimately elected president," he concluded.
