The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) has received the unsettling news of an assassination attempt on the life of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. At the time, August 04, President Maduro was addressing a celebratory parade of the Bolivarian National Guard. Several state officials were with the President at the event which was held to mark the 81st Anniversary of the National Guard.
The FITUG is pleased to learn that the attempted assassination on the President’s life failed but several military personnel suffered injuries. In an address to the Venezuelan people after the attack, President Maduro fingered the extreme rightists of Venezuela and Columbia as being behind the attempt on his life.
The attempted assassination of President Maduro is obviously a new dimension to the violent destablisation efforts we have noted in recent times in the country. The situation in that country, more particularly the resort to violence by reactionary forces and the economic pressures they and their foreign allies have promoted, are of great concern to us. We cannot ignore the fact that Venezuela and Guyana share a common border and developments over there, inevitably will have its effects over here. To some extent we in Guyana have experienced some of this.
The news from neighbouring Venezuela, importantly, referred to drones carrying explosives which were used in a terrorist attack. Drones for political assassinations have been employed, in recent times, in other regions but now, it would seem, this technique has made its debut in our region. Little wonder then that so many leaders and social organisations from Latin America and the Caribbean have rightly expressed their rejection of the terroristic assault on a democratically-elected President Maduro and which also endangered the state officials who were with him at the ceremony.
FITUG is concerned over the new, latest development in Venezuela and join with other progressive and democratic-minded to condemn this assassination attempt on President Maduro. Such acts are fraught with negative implications beyond a country’s borders. FITUG takes the opportunity to express our sympathy to those who were injured in the terrorist assault.
