Inside Venezuela After Maduro's Kidnapping — On-The-Ground Report | Silk and Steel

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Silk and Steel Podcast. I'm your host, Karl Zah. Today we have a very special guest, Diego Sikiera, all the way from Caracas, Venezuela. You know, as many of people know, the world is a bus with US kidnapping of Venezuelan President Maduro. And Trump is chess thumping about getting his hands on the Venezuelan oil. There's a lot of conspiracy theories floating around. So I thought, okay, why not talk to an actual Venezuelan based journalist who is actually living in the country. So Diego, welcome back to my show. Thank you, Karl. I was happy to be here, man. I'm always happy to speak to you because, you know, the world outside, we don't really know what's really going on in Venezuela. So like people's information have been manipulated by a lot of disinformation camp, disinformation and side-up campaign on social media. You know, I saw people posting AI-generated videos of Venezuela and celebrating. I mean, that's just sad. It's like people don't realize they can't afford to upgrade their computer's DRAM because all the DRAM is consumed by all these AI data centers to generate these fake AI videos to support US propaganda. So I'm glad I have you here. And please tell us what is life like right now inside Venezuela? Yes. Yes. I mean, yeah, I saw the AI videos also. I mean, it's sad. I mean, it's like really, it's interesting because it's like a low point that it's evinced, that it has always been there, but it wasn't just, there wasn't the circumstances to show it, you know, in full force, like we're seeing right now with this kind of restoring to this kind of resources to try to make some narrative fit because, yeah, there's no, there hasn't been any kind of celebration regarding what happened here on January 3rd. No demo, no, no, no one challenging authority, by the way. And you know, trying to push further the regime change idea and tactic that seemed to happen. And this is not the case. You will find, of course, celebrations, especially early days from, you know, Madrid, Miami, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, and the other cities in which did I ask what I asked, they really celebrated and they justified it. And they got also pretty bad backlash from, you know, from the media, so the social media sphere here. And I'm not talking now about mobilized militant travestas. I'm talking about common JNC kits that went through it, living in Caracas and they're just like recalling, well, I remember this guy talking tough about what to do in Venezuela and I'm waiting for him right here. I'm waiting for you and then comes, you know, different, different cursings to this kind of persons because, yeah, I mean, that's, that's one of the, and it's a very, very Venezuelan way actually to demand to put your money with your mouth is and like saying, okay, here it is, just come over and fight it. I mean, we're waiting for you. And of course, it's not going to happen. Even on a hypothetical full regime change situation in which I mean, it was, this has been turned upside down and yeah, Manacorina Matalu gets into office or whatever. I mean, any, any U.S. paid project. And they won't come, they won't come by, I mean, until I don't know when. I mean, it's not true that these people are actually going to come because I also stress this a lot. I'm not talking about all the Venezuelans that are outside of the country. I'm talking about the ones who are able to actually engage constantly on social media that have the time to do it and of course, the money to do it because, you know, a regular normal rank and file when it's living in a city like Madrid. Madrid, it's probably dealing with tough jobs on services or something, you know, which demands a lot of time and hours and struggling and making an ends meet and so on. So it won't have that time to, you know, develop all these posts. So yeah, I mean, that's, despite that, when at first, I mean, there's no celebration inside and then there are many reasons why. You're not, they're not celebrating. Frisazzi, one of them, I think it has to do with many people didn't support this. Maybe they didn't support the government, but they didn't support this kind of, quote unquote, resolution, this kind of development. They never agreed and it's on, and it's in the polls that came all these last month. They didn't agree with US taking charge of, you know, solving, quote unquote, the situation and the Venezuelan situation. Something that if there is a situation, it must be solved among Venezuela. And actually, this kind of things, of course, prevent it from happening. I mean, they have to do this kind of stuff also to prevent any sort of, you know, internal process that could end up, you know, healing pretty much in battle society and them and spelling it off this artificial dividing lines. Sometimes they're there and sometimes it could be closer to reality, but sometimes they weren't there. There wasn't. I mean, there wasn't no big gap between, you know, engaging with people who actually have their politics and on the opposition side. Even crazy opposition level. I mean, I have to, I still have people who I talk to. And who weren't happy, by the way, and actually it could be even more scared than the Charistas in this case of what could happen after this. And then you have also the recent experiences of people who, for any reason, left the country, moved, walked or something because this also happened at some point. It was quite hyped by the media. What they're on, reached Peru, for example, and then started to have like the xenophobic experience of being there. And then the word that was offered by previous presidents, you know, ensuring you were salaried and so on, started suddenly becomes fake and sour at the same time. And you start walking back to Venezuela and suddenly you have the possibility to go to the US. I mean, you end up in the US and then you end up, I don't know, chased because you're a TDA and then trend that out when the whole start and then deport it and brought back by the government. You know, this kind of people also have a very different notion and experience of what's actually going on. And these are also people who are who know now, well, the belly of the beast, the beast, if you quote Jose Martí. So yeah, and there's the sense of shame also. So overall, what I'm trying to say here, to this point is that there's no, of evil, there's no one rest, there's nothing of that sort. There are other manifestations of the aftermath. Yes, they are, but they're not, not, not those at least. So it sounds like it's almost a life just goes on in, in, in, in, in Venezuela after this event with no, you know, I'm sure there's a lot of discussions, but it's, you saying people are just going about their normal lives right now. So far and to a, to an extent, you know, it's, I don't know, I mean, the experience of being bombed, I think, of course, it takes a bit more of time to, you know, to find a, you know, more a shaped idea, you know, closer to its actual form or something regarding experience, because it is, it was traumatic. I actually wasn't here when that happened. I was traveling and it was actually, I had to, yeah, I had to cross the border that day from Colombia. So I had a very different experience of what happened. And even as someone who has been born and raised here, I feel like a sense of guilt of not being here, you know, in that sense, you know, in a wider, empath, empathical level, you know, of feeling what has happened here. And you even got places that were actually militant against Chavismo. I mean, municipalities that were never had a Chavista mayor that were actually, well, part of the collateral damage. I don't know how many fatal victims that were there, but there was a lot of property and infrastructure harm. How's being destroyed, you know? So it's, so it did be it. We are not used to this and I'm not trying to, you know, make a pun out of this because I don't, we're used to play a lot of other things, but this experience, regardless of how short it was, also, it takes a bit more time and it's, it is in a way. It's for my audience because you keep on referring to opposition party, et cetera, for the people who have been misled by US propaganda. Venezuela is not a dictatorship. It's in fact a democracy that hold elections. There are opposition parties. It's not a one party state. And, you know, of course, US would dispute those elections, but the election has been observed by many countries around the world. And speaking of which, did you just see that Trump throw Machado under the bus when he publicly said, I don't think she will be back to Venezuela because she just doesn't have enough support back there. I mean, Trump himself publicly admitted Machado is just their puppet with no support, with no support inside Venezuela whatsoever. Yeah, and I don't know if you also saw what she went to the White House today. And I mean, she basically went to the, through the kitchen door or something, she didn't have any protocol. And she actually, she didn't have enough to say when she came out because you know, part of the of this stunt, it was going to be she was going to give her noble medal to him. And I think she did, but there's no significant reaction after this. So it's even more, you know, it is, it is that low point where we're talking about that actually exposes to the core, the nature of that kind of quote unquote leadership and the, and the origins and the ontology even, you know, of this kind of characters. And yeah, it also, it is important, yes, for people to understand that not only there's opposition, but might occur in a child represents the most extremist faction of the opposition, the most pro-US, there's legal opposition as well. And yeah, it's true. And being in fatico about, I mean, like going in, you know, almost an autopilot stressing that part because I really care for, for people to understand this. And I'm, and regarding, yeah, and also casting might occur in a much smaller, different light, another one that has been overblown and hyped by the Western media. I, even today, Carl, I had an interview which it was, yeah, was the English version of a Middle Eastern network, a big one, asking me, the whole Machado thing wasn't like, felt like a massive betrayal of the Venezuelan democratic causing Venezuela, something like that, and we'll come on. I mean, no, it doesn't, it doesn't, that's only something that's happening outside Venezuela. That's something that the gap, the narrative gap, it's massive, you know, and it's different. Yeah, did you also see that Trump conference with the US oil majors? He was talking, Trump was talking to the US oil major executives as if he already owns a Venezuelan oil and he's discussing how to divide up the spoils. And interestingly, all the oil executives is telling him, okay, no, no, no, we actually have to invest a lot of money into Venezuela to make the, you know, to get the enough return on investment that we would like. We would much rather invest that money somewhere else in Guyana or Canada, but the thing is that the whole Trump premise is that, oh, we got to get our hands on the Venezuelan oil, not China, but it's because the US sanction that Venezuela, only 10% of Venezuela goes to United States. And that's what the Chevrolet executives try to tell him. It's like, this is because the US sanctions does happen. So sometimes I don't even know if Trump really understand how the oil business works because it seems like he's running the, running the show pure on instinct. I mean, he's a man that runs on instinct, but maybe not too much knowledge. Well, you know, it was, yeah, if you follow the clips, it was like a constant blooper in how they were actually ruining the substance of the world. It just said several truth social posts before that moment. And funny enough, yeah, there were different reactions. Also that also happened with Harry Burton. I mean, at some point they say, well, thank you for this and we trust your team and so on. And when we live Venezuela in 2019 and he asks, why did you leave? Is it because of sanctions? You know, I mean, just in front of him. And also it is a world by itself because if you saw Exxon, it was a very much different reaction to others because basically what Exxon did subtext, what Exxon was saying, or complaining about and saying it was uninvestable because they used that word. Was precisely that the framework has the framework and the legal system and the law in the lane hasn't changed. So he's baked it. So they're basically complaining about this hasn't gone full regime change. And I know that I mean, you have to, I'm, yeah, more than sure. It's not, it's not a gut feeling thing. I mean, Exxon has a big role behind all of this. If you follow the money and if you follow the sponsorship of what's, have been pushing for all of this, starting with Marco Rugio himself, you know, and how much, if Exxon has support in his, whatever pack system he has and funds and whatever. So it's funny because yeah, you have those nuances there, but the overall picture is we cannot do what the thing that you're saying we have to do. And how reality, Trump's Trump, you know, in the sense of this is what happens when, yeah, some real, energy realism comes into play even by companies that are militant in that sense. And not only that, I mean, as far as I know, as far as I've been following the conversations regarding and the agreements and how the, the, the framework will be for the companies now, the US companies now, it's not different from the one that Biden already had with Cheval. This is important. So there's no major development there either. There's no direct control over resources like he's trying to say and he's doing what he's able to do outside of Venezuela one more time. Regardless of other things, I'll comment that further, further on, but to the point, but it shows something else. A very smart and close friend of mine was saying this had, there is no plan. There's no actual plan. I'm not saying that they're operating on a vacuum. I'm not saying that maybe there's like a Frankenstein, you know, built up a lot of inputs from different plants and different things that are playing, sacrificing some chips like Mara Corina and my child herself, which is a Marco Rubio asset and doing this. So there's no coherent plan or order gas lighting us into what the actual plan is. I don't know if, I mean, time will tell which one is actually the most accurate one. The most one's the closest because there was today, for example, a piece by CNN saying that Trump was engaging with private military companies and the whole private, you know, PMC system, which also includes guarding infrastructure and even reconstruction. And so, and how interesting they were in Venezuela. But I mean, this is also operating from my void in the sense of like there's like they're actually in control of the fields and so on, which is not happening either. And it's like, I guess it's a way to accelerate the way to guarantee to this big oil hot shots to actually getting to Venezuela once and for all. Or it is only the gasification, the gas of paradigm of war just coming over. You know, because this was a component that wasn't as visible as the AI, the screening, the survey, the target banks, the use of electronic warfare doing that early morning of the third, everything was already there. This was the part that was missing of that gas scheme that has been created after genocide, it has been tested there and has been became some sort of war package. You know, maybe that's it. And this is just, you know, allowing Trump to be the car bumper that's going to just deflect all the attention of deeper trends in larger fights that are going on. So at this moment, precisely because of the amount of use, you're thinking about to finish that point, the hardest, the post, the furthest is from control, it seems. For example, the one who self-polluced himself like with a Wikipedia entry saying Venezuela's acting president. Yeah, I mean, like it's amazing. They already talk as if Venezuela already capitulated. You know, they are already act as if they already own Venezuela and the Venezuelan oil field when it's far upon that and based my understanding of based my talk with other experts, Trump is a man who, you know, who he acts out of instinct. Not, I don't think he has a long term plan. When you say it doesn't look like they have a plan, I don't think they do. But Trump likes those big, you know, like the Photoshop moments where he can pronounce victories. This is this goes to, you know, this is how he concluded that while they were against Iran, when he did a glancing blow against Iranian nuclear facility and that he declared victory, he declared himself peacemaker and it's the same with kidnapping of Venezuela Maduro because it's flashy, it grabs the headline. This allow Trump to gather the spotlight, declare himself the victor and as you say, it's also a distraction, distraction from a very real problem of Epstein vibes because even a lot of people among his maga supporters are demanding the government to release Epstein vibes. This level of distraction by going on a war path, you know, distracts the country from domestic problems which U.S. faces a lot. You know, we have the Epstein file hanging over Trump and then we have the problem of ice, you know, basically not only brutalizing immigrants but also American citizens right now, they just shot a white woman. You know, and so the country, United States is really divided at this point and a lot of the people, it must be stressed. Survey after survey, majority American public do not support Venezuela and intervention. But, you know, Washington, you leave that it's totally different because they're not responsible, they're not out accountable to what the American public actually want and for, exactly. And for Trump, this is all about himself. He's gathering personal glory. He's looking for legacy. He's looking to build legacy as the great American president. Now, he probably won another head of in carbon month, Rushmore, you know. And this is his attempt to build personal legacy. So I don't think he's worried about U.S. companies spending $186 billion investment over a period of 16 years in Venezuela. That is far beyond what he's going to. He will be out of office for a long time before that happens. So I don't think he cares about that. He doesn't care about a so-called U.S. national interest, whatever it does, maybe. And he is doing this for himself. And his morality. Yeah, he said that. That's not, my morality is like the limit of what's going to happen. I mean, yeah. Yeah, that's why we're in kind of this weird mess right now. Where it looks like America just flexing military muscles everywhere, not just in Venezuela, but also against Iran, Malagens, NATO, a NATO country, Denmark, over Greenland. Because this is all Trump's personal project. But having said that, I think the whole Venezuelan operation also fed into presidential ambition of Marco Rubio. Let's face this, this is Latin America. So this is called Latin, U.S. project in Latin America is Marco Rubio's baby. And he definitely has presidential aspirations. I think he's, this is part of him. He sees that as a step-in-stroll. All politics is domestic politics. And I think this is how U.S. is projecting its own domestic problems upon the global world. But what about Venezuela? What about, you know, currently, I know the acting president of Venezuela has already publicly rejected, you know, the Donald Trump in all certain terms. So do you think, is there, is there, you know, that this is why the oil majors have been complaining. There's no region change. And so right now, the residual reading as well, I mean, because I know there's a lot of conspiracy theories floating around about maybe a secret deal was made, or maybe even Maduro gives himself voluntarily, order to avoid exhalation. What's your take on that? Yeah, you know, I think we still have to wait for some things to answer themselves to a point that it's going to be more closely to definitive, you know, and regarding many of those question marks, even my, everybody has, you know, some details would be nice to see a further explanation, or some gaps that don't, that are, well, it brings up question marks, I suppose. But you know, coming from here, I know this kind of thing also, it's usually the case and we'll have some responses. And it's probably with receipts. And usually they take your time to do the research and usually release it when there's no, nothing ongoing. That's has, that's usually the way. So yeah, it's anti-climatic in the sense of media expectancy, you know, and it's, and of course it could allow many kinds of, many sorts of speculation regarding how this actually happened and what. But beyond that point, because I think, yeah, I might be agree with some, maybe with some others, I just don't. Up to this point, what we have is presented, yeah, there's no actual rating change. There was a kid napping, something unprecedented, as unprecedented as the scenario that has been unfolding ever since this started. And also, also the way that even to that short moment, there wasn't something, I don't know, I mean, I wonder myself, how much they actually planned the fact that we were going to deal not with the president, but the vice president nevertheless, the whole system, which is basically intact, it is under extortion, I might say, blackmail at this moment, of course, there's a lot of strong army, as you have seen it, it's quite ham-fisted. And actually, it has created shockwaves that has already had many reactions, unexpected reactions outside of the usual regarding Venezuela. For example, some western countries like Spain, for example, condemning openly or Germany, Germany's president, Francois Drestamai, said it was an act of barbarity, it was a barbaric move by a barbaric empire, something like that, I mean, I'm paraphrasing. But even to that extent, it has brought a lot of shockwaves. And so far, at this point, I mean, the way it has all this has been organized, it was done according to Venezuela's law, the Venezuelan system operating at that moment of something that's completely new to its history, so it's new also to its legal framework, but it also very was also, to some extent, already contemplated on part of its constitution. And this is the way the Supreme Court, the Supreme Judicial Power decided rules according to the interpretation of the constitution and set up the legal framework for what comes next, which is precisely the vice president assuming in this case, acknowledging that the president was basically kidnapped. But this is a person who's actually responsible for stabilizing the country, who's actually responsible for implementing medical as maluros plans, sanctioned by him, planned by him. And she's also pretty much a person that hasn't given any big significant concession all this time, like to feel to suggest something weird there, and I actually ruled it out. This is also a person whose family was well basically fractured during the 70s. Her father was Jorge Rodriguez, who was a left wing political leader, a very charismatic one. I wonder why actually moved a lot of people, it was important, he was basically tortured to death by the government back then. So she also has that in her family experience. So it's not that easy also, I mean, it's also people because they don't know her that well, also, so think for example that she's being a woman, she's not tough enough for this kind of situation and boy they can be wrong about that as well. And we're seeing and we're seeing precisely how this is a situation that has been managed step by step in a way that it's, it has been also telling, I mean, about keeping up the basic tenets at all levels of what actually means and gives substance to the body of violent revolution and at the same time maneuvering with this kind of cycle with a gun we have actually threatening all of us at the same time. I actually, if I was thinking before we joined a joint show about how we are seeing like two different constant ood aloops going on at this moment for different reasons of course. So I'm maneuvering in a scenario that it has been, it was analyzed and based on a plan there was already reading and design discussed by Nikolás Maduro himself. This is something that has been addressed by his son who was a member of parliament and also the vice president. So this was actually thought through before it could happen as one of the possible scenarios in which something could happen because the threads were serious enough in that sense. So here we are now precisely in this kind of uncharted waters in which every step it's, I mean, it's new in that sense, you know, how it's just been managed. It has included a lot of threads again. You know, you have to thread the people that you are actually working for you in cooperating and being loyal to you, regardless of the flashy moments of the phone calls and so on. This is still political and this also has a lot of political theory in the sense that you have to manage what there is, you have to manage the characters you're facing. Psychology has a massive place here if you're actually placing Trump among, among other, among, you know, precisely him. So it's interesting and it's a very complex process that we're actually engaging right now. And it's still, I think, a struggle for survival. And now it's a natural thing. It's not important, that it's exclusive of one political affiliation. Speaking of national survival, US is still maintaining a naval blockade in Israel, basically chasing down and seizing oil tankers as coming to Venezuela to picking up the oil. This is an economic warfare. They are trying to strangulate the Venezuela economy, which is very much depend on oil export. Has that, is still over effect right now on everyday living situation in South Venezuela? The current oil embargo? Yeah, well, to what I've seen, I mean, nothing to be far beyond of the usual. You have two elements who've taken to account here. If December, it's like the last time we talk, it's like the holiday moment, then happiness and spending and what not, January's hangover month here. You know, in a very economic sense as well. It's a slow month. Reposition of goods takes longer. Crisis adjusts and we still have the issue about the currency vis a vis the dollar, which is, by the way, central to what's going on on the big picture. Regarding precisely the urgency to preserve some sort of quote unquote value to the petro dollar, the bad, the hard way, of course. So only on the level that it hasn't changed, it hasn't intensified a bit regarding the price of the currency. The prices are the dollar and therefore to buy goods and the markets and so on. Also dealing with which is a use with the case in Venezuela and other sanctions, because it's with parallel markers that are also, you know, try to play with the actual figure of the dollar that day. You know, they kind of get that kind of speculative things. The devices, you can see when it happened in Nicaragua. It happens in Nicaragua, it happens in Argentina. I mean, this kind of, you know, outside of the legal framework, pricing of the US currency for whatever reason. I mean, it's insane. So, but in that sense, what I'm trying to explain here is that that's the only problem that has been constant. But there's no, I mean, there's no hoarding of goods. There's no, there's not a fuel crisis yet, at least. You can talk about, I mean, there's no, there was, of course, a usual reaction that day had happened in the general, the third, a lot of people went and do the lines on the gas stations through the country, but that didn't, that that happened for a day and I have maybe and then it stopped. And there's no, we don't have that kind of shortage going on at this moment. So basically, it is the same situation regarding, yeah, the value of the currency, therefore the value of salary and power purchase. But beyond that point, I mean, it shows something that I think it's important to take into account pre-sysium that economic aspect, especially of being subject to maybe different shapes and forms of blanket economic terrorism, which is basically this proof. I mean, when this was bad five years ago with the overdriven use plug into 99%, it was really bad and a lot of things were lacking. And now at this point, with precisely the within its limitations diversification of economy, it doesn't seem to, the blow doesn't seem to be that hard then before. So this shows that something really have improved on that economic front in order to face this kind of scenario in the last two to three years. And I'm going to say, and I'm saying it's perfect, you know, and all our other words, or rosy, it is uncomfortable and it's tough and you have to deal with a huge amount of another economic tool, which is uncertainty. Yeah. Yeah, so right now, it looks like, looks to me as an outside observer. It looks like the U.S. continued to through coercion and intimidation is trying to make the New Zealand government do what he wants, which is to capitulate and to let the U.S. oil major come back and to own all the oil assets like before, like before the nationalization of the New Zealand oil assets. So just really nothing has really, like nothing fundamental has changed. It's just Trump just upped the escalation, you know, by kidnapping the president, legal president of the country by imposing economic oil embargo and by actually bombing the capital. Yeah, I wonder how sustainable this is for United States. You know, this is actually people don't realize U.S. itself also face resource constraint. You know, they to carry out such military operation is quite expensive and one second. Yeah, that's a worse. Sorry. I've been followed by myself, so don't worry. I know what's going on. My son wants to go to the beach. Tell him he has to wait. Wait, wait, wait a minute. Okay, Matthew, Matthew, okay, after Papa finished, he's not taking the role. Sir, one second, the one second. Let me send him to my wife. Yes, just go ahead, man. No worries. No worries. I feel you. My wife promised to take my son to the beach and he just can't wait. He is the kid. The kids don't understand the concept of future. They want it now. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I have a little one that also photobumps me even being, you know, some life and some new show and she just photobumps. I know what you're going through. Let's go. The US resource comes straight, right? The US Empire, it also does not have infinite resources to carry out as you campaign of intimidation. The military means in the Caribbean is actually incredibly expensive. All these, just keep, keep all these US fleet stock with fuel. They have these like logistic ships of oilers and constantly traveling back and forth to keep the fuel in US ships. They're already working at full capacity because this is not, you know, I don't think US, you know, US military, I mean, they can't sustain this for a while, but you will be, you know, incredibly expensive. And they also, it means they will have to put off on their adventurism elsewhere, right? Because now they're rumours saying that US is moving to strike Iran. And like with what? You know, all their military assets in the Caribbean right now, you know, it's going to take the month to just to redeploy. Even if that's, you know, that's what they really want to do if they want to go after Iran. So we're going to have to just wait and see, you know, how long this Trump craziness lasts, you know, I'm one one thing for people outside of Venezuela, you know, they worry about obviously is how long the New Zealand can hold out on there's such an economic siege. It's a big question mark and also, and it also depends, but even that is contradictory to an extent, Carl, because for example, in order to allow to make things flow, it seems you have to, you have to discharge several sanctions. You have to lift part of the sanction regime in order to make this viable. It seems. So, I mean, that's blowback, man. That's a new, weird manifestation of blowback. And we're going to see others as weird as that one as we go forward if things keep going the way they're going in that sense because it's going into one contradiction after the other one in order to make it make sense. It's weird in that sense. So, and yeah, I don't like to say, I don't enjoy saying that we've gone through this before all the economic hardship because it is devastating and it's also frustrating if you have enough memory to remember how we're you living before sanctions regardless of whatever there was going on. But yeah, I mean, it is a concern, but there's also proof now up to this point that we're not at the same spot that we were the first time all of this hit. Oh, and I think that's important. Lots of, most of now of the food we actually eat, it's actually being produced here. It's not 100% sovereign, full sovereignty, but it's far more than it was five years ago. Same with other economic activities, same with even import export and so on. So, and also there's a lot of restructuring and now it's even restructuring further now that's taking place in all the legal framework precisely to adapt what already succeeded in a different legal form. So, so I think there are more ways and more resources to at least face that part of the extreme part of the scarcity and austerity and so on and also keeping to the counter, but probably going to push harder against finishing every kind of interaction and deals with Venezuela's allies who actually were the ones that support Venezuela and proved that the sanctioned regime wasn't working any more as they wanted them to work. And that's one of the reasons they attacked also and they had to, you know, precipitate everything the way they did. But they're telling them to be expelled in Venezuela has been quite adamant and also explicit the way they said that that's not going to happen. Some things I guess the old and old process will be wider and it will involve the ingenuity of others that are actually real friends of Venezuela and in which they have to do which things will keep going in that direction. And that's at least what Venezuela's where it is saying. And it's what I said, countrymen, it's what I said, government is stating publicly and she has won over more than one gesture to the people's Republic of China, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation, all these days including visits to the ambassadors, meetings with these ambassadors, greeting them at the soaring, you know, the celebration, the moment that she was sworn into office. The first three foreigners that were greeted by her personally were precisely Iran, Russia and China. So that message is also there. I guess that's going to take different shape and forms and this is something here that people also need to understand regarding US Venezuela relationships because back until 2020, 2013 maybe somewhere around, US was the biggest buyer still in Venezuela and oil. And there was a lot of trade going on still back then and it's actually sanctioned that it was actually that expelled the US company of two in business in Venezuela and on a very underpinuous one and law. But it has always been the government position since Chavez, now Maduro and now they see Rodriguez that we are always willing to engage on trade and do business with the United States just like we do with any other country that we decide we have to do under the terms that Venezuela has to offer. So that's not a cognitive dissonance and it always been put the responsibility on them regarding the state and the shape of US Venezuela relationships. And also that's, this is not a government level. There are a whole different kind of discussions going on, you know, on a more normal grassroots levels of many manifestations. Not only the diaspora, you know, economic circle, we're talking about actually discussions go further. Now there are now part of the discussion on the right, for example, it goes beyond the spinning that we've seen. So it is interesting. It also shows how quick this kind of global happens when you're closer to home and you're not back in back that. It takes a bit longer there to feel it, you know, to feel the backlash in many ways or the sudden uncertainties in many ways as well as to the short-sightedness and the pettiness of this kind of operations. Yeah, that's good to hear. And I think it's encouraged in that also the Venezuelan relationship with its neighboring country as you've been improving, talking about, like Columbia, for example. And so, you know, US at least would not be able to block the land route for, you know, Venezuelan borders with other people in American countries. Yeah. And so we're going to have to, and you know, Trump right now is his doing all this also, he's trying to stay out of jail, you know, because he has a midterm election coming in United States. And what he's trying to do is right now he's trying to ensure support from his MAGA base. So there will be enough Republicans get elected that will allow Trump not to be impeached. So this is why he's also up the, of the antiques. We're going to have to see how the US military election shake out, you know, whether there will be an impeachment of Trump coming in. Well, I would have you thought you saw the quote of him basically saying that the, like I've seen, like another part of his stream of consciousness, like saying, I think it was with the Times. I don't know, I don't remember which out of it, but basically saying it would be even better to not have elections or something like that. I mean, he's already saved that. Oh, yeah. I mean, like they, they were there already people like Steve Van and trying to flow trial balloons or like a possible. Exactly. Right. Beyond 2028, which is crazy. I mean, right now, I don't know how the country was survive another three years of Trump at the current rate. It's, you know, we're just going to have to wait and see. And I think people, and for the people watching, you know, like they should not be too easily adopt a defeat this attitude. You know, Venezuela has not been defeated yet. You know, Venezuela has not insulated yet. You know, the fight still goes on. And you know, US is not all powerful, right? I mean, like I kind of people feel helpless. There's sometimes a feel you just get to do whatever you want. But US is not all powerful. US do have its own limitations. And, you know, and then what just have to the best we can do is keep our spirits up and keep on keep on keep on keep on the resistance to the empire. Yeah. This and takes many forms, man. And especially if you are on the weak side, it takes even more. Different, a wider set of possibilities and tools. And, you know, it's funny enough, I'm going to quote of all people that Taliban when they said, basically, yeah, you older watches, but we own time. And this is a very short-term thing right now, you know? And yeah, I mean, this is not capitulation. Yeah, we're not defeated. And like I've said, and if you've been paid enough attention to it, and it's well at the last six years, you're going to see the different shape and forms that resistance actually had during those years. And now I think, think about something just for a moment, especially on a symbolic and narrative needy empire at this moment, precisely to off your skate from his, it's on the climb. They tried to do a Roman show against Nicolas Maluro. They tried to show him Saddam style humiliated, destroyed, and, you know, looking to the floor. And he basically was just joking, caracanus style and saying, good night, good, you happy new year to the press corps, even able to send us a message saying, you know, he was from Shagor, he said, no, so don't say anything. And he was also able to take a stand at the Jew that has many important reactions. And in court that day, so I mean, even that opportunity of trying to go further with symbolic Shagor, basically failed, you know, even that opportunity was squandered. So yeah, I mean, and also this massive displacement force is also massive displacement of desperation. This is also important to understand. Yeah, I'm actually going to see if the publicize the trial because, you know, they, we all know it's a kangaroo court and the charges brought against Maduro is focused, but they already dropped the drug charges because we know that that would never fly because there's no fenton of coming out of it as well. You know, that that was a completely made up charge. And so now the only charge that's standing against Maduro is position on machine gun position of machine guns that pose danger to the United States person now, which is completely ridiculous because you are trying to prosecute him in a country that has a second amendment rights of citizens, the right of citizen to bear art. So you are part of the community, Maduro, for having weapons to defend himself. This is completely ridiculous. I actually look forward to how they're going to argue in court. I hope will be a public televised trial. Well, they actually, you know, the indictment has like a seven conversion after the attack. And yeah, they severely tone down the narco thing. There's no mention for fentanyl and this and same with the cartel de los solos, which is basically what they were accusing him of. They're running a drug cartel, an narco state drug cartel or something. And but they're going to try using it seems to be using a star witness that has already been, it's already clear, it's already been shown that it has been coerced and also had to make his own plea deal in order to reduce his own sentence, which is, "Oh, carba hal." But this will like Max pieces show by the way, a very good piece by Max Blumens, I'll get the grace on this. As he shows at this, on the legal system would imply discovery that could, you know, they got to, that's actually going to point at the CIA history of drug trafficking to say, you know, so it's going to be really complicated to do it. And even for more, we can get even more colorful here. We have this guy, the judge, who I remember, I forgot his name. That basically is the guy that persuaded 9/11 victims not to go on trial and to settle something because of what, the risk of what they was going to be exposed on a trial. You know, so, yeah, exactly so, that would put a very, in a very bad place, the US federal state. So it's a good question. So this is a cover-up judge, at least for 9/11, according to what I've seen. And on the other side, by the way, you have, there's something like this. Yeah, this is also like geopolitics inside the courtroom because you have the very public, I think it's his name, who was a scientist lawyer. So that's also like, you know, there's a lot of indirect symbolism and messages going on here, what kind of fighting and a sense of even morality and decency operating here. So that's going to be a nightmare. It's a PR nightmare, if you see it, unless they go tough on them, hardcore, I don't know. Trying to do something that's going to work in their benefit for the cameras, for the performative elements of this regardless of the legal case itself. So yeah, I mean, that's something that I mean, I'm looking also, I'm also anxious to see what the hell this is going to develop. Yeah, we are all very anxious to see how you all play out. And thank you again, Diego, for making your time to join us, to tell us the facts on the ground inside of Venezuela. Is there anything you like to, is there anything else you like to cover on this particular issue? Yeah, I had an idea and I just lost it. Basically, I mean, this is not, this is far from over. I think this is something people have to realize. One more time, I think the La Roche cry, it has it right when they say it's entering a new face. It is. It is a new stage of geopolitical reality throughout the world, you know, and they have to keep that into account. Completely forgot the other thing I was going to say. But anyway, yeah, I was actually remembering, reminded that I've been joking with the thing. I now for something completely different, according to the multi, according to multi-pithing. The last two episodes. So boy, man, I have, I foresee that we're going to have something completely different the next time we're going to, we're going to talk. This is going fast, man. Yeah. So for people who want to follow you, Diego, where would they go? Well, first of all, the go to places, missionbetterthat.com. I think we have to write it down in the comments. Truth mission in English would be like the rough translation and the telegram channel there. Then I have my personal Twitter handle, the Josecaid, and you can find me there as well. Sometimes I'm running something here and there. Social media and the telegram channel of missionbetterthat. So those are the go to places. Thank you. Thank you, Diego again for making my time to speak to us. This is a very important development. It's still ongoing story, obviously. Yes, absolutely. I look forward to have you back on our show. Sure, man. We should discuss any further development because this is like I said, this is still an ongoing drama. And we had right out the whole world's eyes are now focused on Venezuela and United States. And hopefully next time we come together for something completely different, you'll be a nice surprise. That would be great. Yeah, I hope for good news. Yeah. Some pretty development, that's for sure. That's the only thing I can guarantee. It's going to be a surprise. It only got nose. That's fair. Well, thanks guys for tuning in. Until next time. Bye bye.