More than 20 heads of state and government will travel to Delhi this weekend to attend the International Solar Alliance’s founding conference, hosted jointly by India and France, but few are expected to generate the headlines made by Venezuela’s tough talking strongman leader Nicolas Maduro, who has locked horns with the U.S. Venezuela’s Ambassador to India Augusto Montiel spoke about the upcoming meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Maduro.
President Maduro is making his first visit to India for two days for the International Solar Alliance. How significant is this visit expected to be?
This is a significant meeting as it is the first between President Maduro and PM Modi. It is also important because, at this summit, the International Solar Alliance, we will recognise that the future generations of our countries deserve respect. Venezuela agrees with India and PM Modi that we need this platform to fight for a cleaner future. Some other countries like the U.S. want to say that we shouldn’t worry about climate change, don’t worry about the future, and sell everything in the present even if it means destroying the future.
But even Venezuela is increasing its oil production and is a major exporter to India. Is there a contradiction between that and the Solar Alliance’s plans?
I think it is a perfect example of where Venezuela, a major founder OPEC country, is showing the way, and saying that renewable energy is necessary and we care about the environment. Oil is a geo-strategic resource and countries of the world must see it as a reason to cooperate, not a reason to dominate others. Despite the fact that Venezuela sits on the world’s largest energy reserves and coal, we have built renewable energy sources. Today, 60% of our energy comes from hydropower.
What is on the India-Venezuela bilateral agenda?
To begin with, in spite of the economic sabotage perpetrated by our northern neighbours [the U.S.], India and Venezuela have kept up their oil relations. We have increased production of oil, which is jointly developed by Indian oil companies. Also, we will discuss cooperation in pharma production. The Venezuelan government provides all medicines, many of which we procure from India, and we have protected Indian pharmaceutical companies from American and European MNCs who want to stop them.
We also hope for agricultural cooperation. Venezuela has depended on oil and mining resources for the past centuries, but we now want to diversify, and we would like Indian agricultural agencies to impart their knowledge and technology to us.
You have spoken of economic sabotage by others, but Venezuela’s President Maduro is himself accused of squeezing the Venezuelan population, of mismanagement and corruption, and human rights violations. How do you explain the pictures we see of hospitals where medicines have run out, queues for food, protesters being beaten back by the police?
That’s a one-sided view of Venezuela promoted by Western news agencies. The truth is that Venezuela has some of the strongest human development indicators, and a vibrant democracy. [The West] accused Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, and then said that was a mistake, despite millions being killed there in the scenario they created. Now they want to create the story that President Maduro is a dictator, but Venezuela sees more elections and a higher turnout at all levels than most of their countries.
You accusethe U.S. of economic sabotage. Why?
In 2001 they did this with Iraq, in 2009 they did it with Libya, then with Syria. They want to create the same situation in Venezuela: spread total chaos in the country. The whole point of Venezuela is that we own the world’s largest natural reserves [of oil]. U.S. and their agencies and European powers are not seeking democracy in Venezuela, they are after the oil. If we are blockaded for medicines financially, like they did with Cuba for 60 years, isn’t this criminal? But we are protecting our sovereignty. We have voting systems, and local, regional and national elections, and we have had 23 elections since 1999.
What will President Maduro’s message be when he comes to India, given India and the U.S. have very close ties?
If the U.S. and India have got good relations, if India imports oil from the U.S., that’s fine with us. But India also has good relations with Venezuela, and it imports one-fifth of its oil needs from Venezuela. Every country has the right to its strategic commercial relations, as India does, also with Iran, China, Russia and Brazil. So no one should come and interfere in any of those relations. And India is a sufficiently mature and developed country to know who it wants to be friends with.
Despite that, PM Modi was the only Indian PM not to attend the Non Aligned Summit in Venezuela in 2016, which appeared to indicate a discomfort with President Maduro’s government….
That was never indicated to us. Both India and Venezuela collaborate in many multilateral platforms. India sent its Vice President to the NAM summit, and if PM Modi thought that was the appropriate representation, that is his prerogative.
