Raul Castro to UN: Cuba Will Support Venezuela in the Face of Destabilisation Attempts

Cuban President Raul Castro vowed to support the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in the face of ongoing attempts to destabilise his administration.

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Caracas, September 29th 2015 (venezuelanalysis.com) Cuban President Raul Castro vowed to support the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in the face of ongoing attempts to destabilise his administration.

Addressing world leaders at the United Nations 70th General Assembly in New York City this Monday, the Cuban leader rallied against what he described as attempts to undermine Venezuela’s socialist project and national democratic institutions. 

“Venezuela will always have the solidarity of Cuba when faced with attempts to destabilise and subvert the constitutional order and destroy the works carried out by comrade Hugo Chavez Frias, and continued by Nicolas Maduro Moros for the benefit of the Venezuelan people,” stated the Cuban head of state. 

Castro’s comments follow a period of relative instability for the Venezuelan government, which has been wracked by attempts to unseat it over the past two years through economic sabotage and intermittent violent street campaigns known as the “guarimbas”. 

Although 2015 has seen relatively calm streets, many are concerned that unrest may increase around December 6th, when the country will head to the ballot box to elect members of its chief legislative institution, the National Assembly. 

The impending elections have already become a frequent subject on international news reports, and the Venezuelan government maintains there is an international campaign to delegitimise its state institutions ahead of the elections.

Just last week more than 30 former Latin American and Spanish presidents signed a document called the “Bogota Declaration ” calling on the Venezuelan government to accept “impartial international observation” missions from the European Union, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations during its upcoming parliamentary elections on December 6th. 

Signed by a number of rightwing Colombian presidents, including Alvaro Uribe, the declaration received criticism from Ernesto Samper, the current Secretary General of UNASUR (Union of South American Nations), which is tasked with monitoring the legislative elections. 

“It asks for something which doesn’t need asking for, which is impartiality,” he stated. 

“One of the principles of (our) mission is precisely the issue of impartiality,” he continued, before stating that the organisation “is not opposed to the participation of other international observers’. 

Venezuela and Cuba have been close allies since former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999. Together they have spearheaded a number of projects in the region, including the creation of a continental alternative to Free Trade Agreements known as the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of our America (ALBA).