US Secretary of State’s Comments on Venezuela Kidnapping Hailed as ‘Honor’ by Maduro

According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, the United States Secretary of State, while attending the Munich Security Conference, engaged in a press conference alongside the Prime Minister of Slovakia, where he advanced provocative remarks concerning Washington’s foreign policy and its involvement in Venezuelan internal affairs.

During the joint press briefing, the Secretary of State asserted, “We do not want Europe to be dependent on us; we want them to be a partner of the United States! We do not want Europe to be subservient to us!” He also reported progress regarding the Greenland negotiations and characterized his meeting with the Syrian Foreign Minister and the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as “historic.”

The US Secretary of State further stressed the importance of the defense capabilities of NATO partners, stating, “There is no commitment for any government that is more important than the ability to protect its people and its country. Therefore, we are talking about the importance of the defense capabilities of our NATO partners. Asking NATO member states to be stronger is not a threat; rather, it means that when we are individually stronger, we will be in a stronger alliance!”

In direct response to these statements, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro commented, “Many countries did not like what we did in Venezuela, that’s fine. This action was based on our national interests. Many of our close allies also disliked this action. We are proud of what we did.” These comments from the US Secretary of State have subsequently generated significant negative reactions across the international community.