Caracas, 25 April (PL) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said today that the government of Syria is a victim of a plot to justify future actions — including military ones — against it.
“They are infiltrating terrorists into Syria and causing violence and deaths, and all of a sudden the president is pronounced guilty, immediately, too, without anyone investigating anything,” Chávez pointed out from the Miraflores Palace, where he was leading a meeting of the Council of Ministers.
According to the Venezuelan leader, the goal of the Western powers is to find pretexts to promote sanctions, freeze assets, and attack Damascus.
“Bombing a country to protect its people. What cynicism! But that’s the empire and its crazy way,” he observed, referring to the United States and the attack on Libya.
In view of the situation created in Syria, Chávez reaffirmed his support for his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, whom he considers a humanist.
In recent days, the Syrian government deployed tanks in the areas of Daraa and Douma to ensure peace, after ascertaining that armed individuals killed 5 Syrian soldiers.
During his Miraflores speech broadcast on the national network, Chávez announced new measures of social welfare, including a 25% increase in the minimum wage and a reform of the food law.
With the decree that will enter into effect in two stages (15% on 1 May and 10% on 1 September), the minimum wage will rise to 1,548 bolivars (360 dollars), one of the highest in the region.
This measure will also directly augment the pensions, which are indexed to the minimum wage by the government.
The other measure establishes, via an enabling law, the obligation of public and private enterprises to guarantee food vouchers to all workers, even during vacations and maternity leaves.
All that is for the purpose of continuing to deepen the Bolivarian revolution’s policies of inclusion, declared the socialist leader, who moreover confirmed the upcoming launch of a sale of 3 million household appliances at affordable prices.
The original article “Chávez denuncia complot contra Siria” was published by Prensa Latina on 25 April 2011. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com).
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