The Venezuelan foreign minister characterizes as insolent the statement of the US State Department spokesperson who said that the US will closely watch Russia’s agreement to build a nuclear power plant in Venezuela. The United States has no moral high ground to stand on, since the US is using nuclear energy for military purposes.
Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro asserts that Venezuela, like any country in the global South, has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, as an alternative energy source for the future.
The foreign minister made Venezuela’s position clear upon his arrival at the Minsk International Airport, with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, to undertake an intense work agenda, for two days, with his counterpart Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Maduro characterizes as insolent the statement of United States State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley, who said that the US will watch “very closely” Russia’s agreement to build a nuclear power plant in Venezuela, which was signed this Friday by the presidents of the two countries.
In this respect he points out that the United States has no moral high ground to stand on, since it is using nuclear energy for military purposes, to destroy other nations.
“They have thousands of nuclear warheads aimed at the heads of citizens of the world. This country must eliminate all its nuclear bombs before it can have enough moral high ground to talk about Venezuela or any other country,” warns the foreign minister.
Maduro goes over the day’s work done in Russia, where the agreements to build houses and to manufacture materials and inputs in this sector were also signed, and highlights the agreement signed by Caracas and Moscow to develop nuclear energy as an alternative source of electricity and the establishment of the Binational Bank with a view to accelerating the financing of projects in the Bolivarian Republic.
“Joint agreements were signed for projects to grow coffee, bananas, and flowers. Venezuela is entering the immense Russian market and all the region around it, with products to guarantee food sovereignty, and opening trade routes,” the foreign minister explains.
He adds that the visit to Belarus is of great importance, in that it includes the signing of agreements in the sectors such as housing, gasification of vehicles and urban zones, and moreover the construction of agricultural cities.
The original article “Maduro: Venezuela tiene el sagrado derecho de utilizar energía nuclear con fines pacíficos” was published by Venezolana de Televisión on 15 October 2010. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com).
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