Venezuela: Maduro accuses US of trying to 'get hands on our oil'

Embattled president warns Donald Trump he risks turning country into new Vietnam

Tom Phillips Latin America correspondent
Wed 30 Jan 2019 11.10 GMT

Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has accused Donald Trump and the “group of extremists around him” of plotting to topple him in order to seize Venezuela’s oil, and warned he risked transforming the South American country into a new Vietnam.

In a four-minute Facebook video – published as Venezuela prepared for a day of fresh pro-opposition protests on Wednesday – Maduro claimed the leaders of the US “empire” were conspiring “to get their hands on our oil – just like they did in Iraq and in Libya”.

Unable to accuse Venezuela’s government of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, they were instead waging a media campaign of fake news to justify intervening in a country that boasts the world’s biggest crude reserves, Maduro claimed.

“We will not allow a Vietnam in Latin America. If the US intends to intervene against us they will get a Vietnam worse than they could have imaged. We do not allow violence. We are a peaceful people,” Venezuela’s embattled leftist leader added.

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