me sophie shevardnadze anti-government and rest invented suellen his sprawling out of control with every side blaming the other for they care how the government cope with this serious political crisis when i ask somebody who has a view from the inside i'm just is that as a member of president address cabinet is our guest today. street fighting is raging on the streets of the venezuelan capital with commandante shot is gone his rivals are taking a shot at his successor and the white house has already voiced its support for regime change how will caracas stop the violence is washington times and it's for the country's economic woes to play does venezuela's socialist dream a future. and under is our eyes our guest today a member of president cabinet thanks very much for being with us he's joining us from caracas so as

a result mr durham have sat where saying in kiev is now being repeated in caracas what does it mean exactly what is happening this is not a widespread violence as we are seeing right now in kiev it's very limited to certain focuses. of course the u.s. would like to create a situation like the one we're seeing in care but it is not near near what is happening there right now it's very hard to compare again venezuela just came from a recent election local election we've had four electoral processes in the last two years all of them have been. you know with the wide participation of the people over eighty percent of participation in these are the true processes the vote of our revolution has won all four of them we have a very solid. popular support and this is not the first

time we are facing this kind of of this rupture in our democratic life remember that in two thousand and two we had a coup would turn following a very similar script like we are seeing right now with the violent protesters industry trying to topple our government but like you've said your country has just come out of the presidential election like a little over a year ago president maduro won this election with a very small margin does that really mean that your country is divided and he has a real opposition. person among the one with one point five percent difference it was a very special kind of election. because the people or as you know very sad very hurt by the loss of president chavez and we had a diminished participation of our people who were very

again touched very felt hard feeling with what was happening emotionally to the country with the loss of president chavez but again no matter how big the margin if it was small or large we are in a democracy. the country respects the will of the majority. after that after the election of first but i'm a little we had a second election this coming december and the forces of the chevy's the movement of the fall of our involvement gave a very came out of it with a very wide majority again so the venezuelan people has had the chance to express its will over and over and over again over the last fifteen years we've had nineteen elections so free there's no country in the world that has had

so many elections as we have so i want to get back to what's going on right now in caracas opposition leader aleppo's alatas surrender to the authorities he said he wants to wake people up why do you think he handed himself in he handed his hands this is all over because there was a. judge that the justice system was claiming him for his crimes his his crimes against democracies his involvement in all the violence that we're seeing right now remember that although we had elections this last december this people look was a lot better and we kick up realize there were also involved in the violence that we saw in two thousand and two these are people from the wealthy classes of the venezuelan society these are the always argue of the venezuelan society these are

the political expression of the always argue in venezuela these are this is the the ruling class the privileged class that is against democracy that is against the popular democracy that we are. moving forward in venezuela so when the justice system claims mr. lopez for all the violence that he. directed during these last days. it is a crime to do it it is a crime to attend against a people and against a democratic system they way he's done it especially in a political context so democratic so open as ours so he is now in jail and he will have to face a trial with all the guarantees that our justice system gives to anyone that is being. charge with the charges that he's facing.

but it's important to note is that mr lopez gave his cell himself up after a negotiation with the government that protected his life he went to the justice system by the hands of the president of the national assembly who is a one of the fall of our leaders years ago coverage and that came because of the threat over mr lopez life the threat of his life by the ultra right. factions of the venezuelan political spectrum i need john kerry is that i need to ask you the whole grow are they fired right movement you are this people who are this fascist that you and present the duro are talking about. these are people from the stream right related with the paramilitaries in colombia related to iraq to what you are really is the head of the paramilitary in the ultra right in colombia

and of course behind all of this is the interest of the united states to create a situation that brings up regime change which has been their policy all the time against the goal of our revolution regime change and they're using factors from the extreme right to try to provoke regime change but don't you fear that if he's put in prison he could become a sort of a martyr for the opposition where the opposition is very divided the opposition in venezuela tends to. throw away whoever is worse doesn't work for them anymore they've done it in the past they had a labor leader that they used in the past to try to promote regime change they've used governors they just. threw away and because of leaders because it didn't work

for them for their interests anymore now they're trying to to they have this new leader in leopoldo lopez to try to bring about their policies this extract all of that tries to to again spread by this all over the country you keep bringing up and recap really sewall most won the presidential election against mcdougal and he's also seen as one of the main leaders of the opposition but he's trying to distance himself from the opposition on the street why is he doing that this time well it is surprising for me to have to confess. because crippen is was he led the violent revolts after the april elections that led to the death of eleven people eleven does by the way so in this this opportunity he's distanced himself from the violence

especially because he's a government he's a governor he governs one of the states it's not of his interest to promote violence because that will turn against him he's a governor he has to guarantee that piece of his state he has to guarantee that piece of the state he rules so he can continue in his sequence you know in power in his state so so. in contrast to a port au prince who doesn't rule anything he's chisinau you tater who's just a political. activist mr guppy lives has a lot to lose in a situation of violence mysteries are we going to take a short break now and when we're back we'll be talking about the situation in windsor i went a member of president my dearest cabinet and stay with us. in

the. show we're going to interrupt i'm stunned when we meet some of his sons innovators and the like. we find out the big black queens to come visit and craft. the in the modern day banking but still money some smocks of the album. said the. going on to. the future. no cholesterol pianist depression. these efforts to work. to improve your life. are you see.

form those threats of. branding you. see. you as a fool when i close my eyes i see people in mosques with. you know sometimes i think itself is a face covered by a mosque. those people in both sides of the barricades we don't want. to do sometimes just it feels as if all of ukraine is no most.

of the. pain. all for the future harder. between two and three hundred million guns united states so you can act like they're not here and keep kids away from them. the causes. you know i mean this teaches them a lot of responsibility and simply through the eyes of children if we can do it for our children for our future. well if you're going to the market like. this if you believe.

that i have you with us here on our t.v. today i roll researcher. and now we're back with. a member of president med dewar's cabinet he's joining us from caracas right so most of the protestors industries are university students as i know the universe is invented so a lot are affordable why then do you believe they are out there and forefront of the protests. well because the universities the young people in the

universities is where the. united states has chosen to promote this kind of extremist groups we expelled from our country to three u.s. diplomats because of their involvement in the training and organization and financing of this extreme groups and used the university they are there for. their place to gather jihad evidence about those three u.s. diplomats that they're actually doing that. well yes that's why we our government expelled them we counter-intelligence plenty of counter-intelligence over their activities and a lot of support to shows how they were involved in this kind of organization of these extremist groups so the students are on the streets are they

mostly from private universities or public ones there or does it even matter is there a difference. again it is. that people who are protesting are not only students right now i mean we find by the people who have been detained. certainly young people but. there are many that are related to this extreme groups. ought for for example you know all these russia knows very well the experience of the the color revolution development revolutions this is the scheme does the reproduce here so morgan students many of them are professional political activists some of them have been trained for over two years in this kind of of violence of political actions to try to topple a government again it's the same scheme does what you've seen in the past in

ukraine and other countries promoted by the us following cia directions this isn't a political operation towards regime change that's going on in venezuela right now fine and directed by the united states and there is aren't the world precedents it's asked is an economic problems in your country citing very high inflation lack of goods in a store it's also extremely high crime rate as roots of this protest what are you doing to deal with this issues. all governments all countries have problems have issues we are dealing with them with different strategies even yesterday night the president signed the new exchange will another measure to try to. solve all these problems and bring the economy back to an ex librium we faced an economic war also promoted by these. groups of the opposition but

nothing no matter how. big the problems might be this is a democratic country nothing justifies the violence that we're seeing in certain parts of certain but it's where the city's this is democratic country which is came from the election we'll have elections next year again for the national assembly and nothing justifies the loss of life and property that we're seeing right now in certain areas of venezuela you've said many times that ameri corps is behind all this unrest in your country but from what i understand united states is the biggest oil costumer how does it benefit from couse invented so ela. well not only that you know. for the married for the for for the last fifty years that we've had this relationship with the united states or lack of it what is what

is curious that is that the level of our economic activity does not correspond to our political relationship not only is the u.s. our main oil buyer but also we import from the united states the most of our of our. of our necessities that we have to import it's our main importing market so it's a paradox that our level of economic relationship does not correspond to the political relationship again the united states first they lack a policy towards latin america that is that is widely recognized by all the the u.s. intelligencia so to speak. and towards one is whether the only policy the us have has is regime change nothing besides that although we've tried in the past to try

to restart our wish through agents with the united states to bring it to a new level of of dialogue of mutual comprehension to work together towards a problem problems that has not been possible the only policy that the u.s. has towards venezuela in its vacuum of policy towards right america is redeemed change and that we do not accept we demand for the united states from the united states to respect our sovereignty we are determined to be independent and sovereign there is no more we will not accept any more us intervention in our country any more we have been a us colony for too long all right we are decided to be free and independent so you're saying what the united states should do in order for their relations to improve what concessions and then it's well or ready to do in order to improve relations with the us. concessions we're determined to get and i mean in the middle

and go it will when the only thing that we ask is respect you know the only thing they have to do is respect us respect our sovereignty respect our political process respect our democracy that's what we demand we are not. asking for mercy or asking for for anything else but respect for our institutions for our political system and for the will of our people to be independent and free of foreign domination but what do you think their main problem is with venezuela why why do you think us is lacking respect towards your country as you say oh boy oh sophie oil this is the largest oil reserves in the world that is now in the in the only local oil

basing now called google chart is oil based and it's the largest oil reserves in the world so the us is greedy like a vampire. to get their hands on that oil again because that. huge reserve certified as the largest world oil reserve. is is in the interest of the united states to put its hand on and we've said no the oil in venezuela the resources of venezuela belong to the venezuelan people not to the u.s. government not to the imperialism so sometimes i feel like when you are fighting an almighty enemy like the united states it somehow in a weird way helps you a side a country to consolidate people around the regime that some may not even like do you feel like the united states is helping you in

a way by being your enemy to consolidate people are around you and your government it's hard for me to answer that question i mean is this is an objective situation that we're facing we have the united states involved again in all these regime change policy and we have denounced and we face. we have confronted them over the last of it over the past years it was the. permanent struggle of president chavez that we have continued to be free and independent and. our people are very conscious of you know our people very have grown a lot during this whole of our revolution in terms of consciousness and they they know pretty well who is their enemy who is the enemy of the people here. so you're saying the constant interference from the united states into your country's affairs

actually helped raise consciousness and awareness of that and surveillance is that what you're saying well yes i mean all the political struggles that we've had to to to. do in the past through to gain that independence to gain sovereignty over over our resources to build a more democratic society of inclusion to fight poverty. that has been done we have had to struggle. against many obstacles one of them is the united states the oligarchy is the other one the cultural. media hammoudi has been another one so all these obstacles enemies that we've had to face in order to create a society a democratic society of inclusion of sovereignty of independence of liberty.

in terms of a of the advance of our struggle people have been growing in consciousness in as we have been moving forward with our revolution with our process and now are there you were close to president hugo chavez for the last ten years that country was calm and peaceful but then with a new new president facing challenges from the opposition what is president maduro doing differently from prison chabris. nothing personal my little is our first child he's the president is the the president that is continuing the legacy of which others were following his followers these strategically it is the same objectives that were following of course we were adjusting tactics in adjusting. based on the situation but it's it's basically a continuity sions of the chavez government that's what people voted for the what

was the problem then the problem is that we have an opposition that does not recognize the sovereignty of the people that does not. recognize democracy they've tried once and again to topple our government through violent ways we've had included time two thousand and three it was fall in two thousand and two was followed by a business lock out into by the end of two thousand and two two thousand and three and they've always looked for for a shortcut they have not since democracy doesn't favor them through since the ballot the vote ballot doesn't stay with them they've tried to come to power through violent means and that's what they're pursuing right now again all right unfortunately we do not have a democratic opposition we have a violent undemocratic. all the guardian that opens vision in our country.

the sheriff sheriff thank you very much for this interesting insight on what's going on and then it is well an on there unrest in your country and it is iran minister the new president majority cabinet was with us joining us from caracas venezuela that's it for this edition of stepin call and i will see you next time. this is the media leave us so we leave the media. by the same motions surely play your part of the musical. for shoes that no one is asking with the guests that you

deserve answers from it's all on politicking only on our team. chaos on the streets of kiev after a short truce rioters are again wrecking traffic the so-called opposition appears to have no interest in the weekly look to government force is being met with force where ukraine goes from here is anyone's guess. on the money with the business over russia this. lud.

live. live live. live .

the transit routes of a nuke of the airport your best way to the heart of moscow. explosions on street fights are reporting here with anti-government rioters shooting at police and blocking traffic the death toll from the recent violence of which is at least eighty but hundreds more injured. radicals refused to leave the streets despite the president promising and number of concessions including early elections and a major overhaul of power but want to say the only accept his resignation. has western powers seem to be ignoring the boss tossing all now in the hands of the protesters as the u.n. washington slump a large part of the blame of the government.