COURTESY TRADUCTION

Interview with President Nicolás Maduro for the

AI Mayadeen international news channel

Miraflores Palace, Caracas

Sunday, December 26, 2021

AI Mayadeen journalist Ghassan Ben Jeddou. Dear viewers, God's peace be with you, and

welcome to this unique dialogue with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros.

Mr. President Nicolás Maduro, Greetings and thank you for offering us this ample time to talk

with you here in your beautiful palace and in this beautiful capital that beats with life and energy

after these last years of crisis. Mr. President, I had the honor of visiting you almost three years

ago, and it was at the beginning of the induced crisis, the situation was tough; a nearly

unprecedented US-European offensive, diplomatic exclusion, they invented a man out of thin air

and appointed him as a fictitious president, there was even an assassination attempt against

him. Now we are back after three years. We are sincerely surprised to see Venezuela with so

many beauties, a good social situation, hope, joy, and real resistance in Venezuela in general

and in you personally. How did you face all that, Mr. President? What is the secret of that

firmness and determination?

President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Well, first of all, I would

like to welcome Al Mayadeen, you, Ghassan, and all your work team. I want to send a unique

greeting to the people of Lebanon and all the Arab and Muslim peoples, Arab brothers, Muslim

brothers; here you have in Venezuela a brother president of the Muslim peoples, of the Arab

peoples. We have many people of Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, Egyptian origin in Venezuela.

A great community.

We are witnessing a sustainable recovery process based on work, the recovery of the

productive economy, the real economy, and the collective effort of an entire country.

This year 2021 is the first year of economic growth since this economic war began since the

criminal sanctions of the U.S. Imperialism started to; what is growing? The economy that

produces food is growing; an economy that has goods, produces services, and is growing?

Industry, what is growing? Trade and the internal market of the country. A real economy and all

this has had a significant impact on the economic activity of the people, of the ordinary people,

of the families, of the people.

This year 2021 has been good, in all senses, and we are closing with great hopes and

expectations that the year 2022 will be much better, of more significant recovery, of more

excellent brightness, of greater happiness for our people.

We have been people who have resisted brutal attacks by U. S. imperialism and its allies in the

world. Financial, monetary, and commercial persecution, unprecedented in the history of the last

100years, an actual economic war But we have resisted, well, with a lot of balance, with a lot of

firmness And we have not only resisted. We have proposed to move forward based on

collective work effort, stimulating all economic sectors, and this is beginning to give good results.

The fundamental thing for a country has to be the development of its real economy, of all the

factors of its real economy, and Venezuela is achieving this step by step, fortunately.

Al Mayadeen journalist, Ghassan Ben Jeddou Mr. President I know you don't like to talk

about yourself very much, but never mind today, tell me, how did you personally resist? The last

time visited you was about three years ago. I was personally surprised as you were telling me:

the battle, the battle, the battle, the struggle, welcome the fight. And after three years, you have

certainly been victorious, and you have resisted a lot. Repeat, I know you don’t like to talk about

yourself, but tell us, how have you fought so solidly on a personal level?

President Nicolás Maduro. The heroic history of our homeland inspires us; I am inspired by

the love and patriotic passion of the people. Without the people of Venezuela, we would be

nothing. One must have faith in the people. One must stimulate the spiritual and moral forces of

greatness that the people have. and one must incarnate, carry those spiritual forces carry moral

forces. One as a human being, alone, individual, is nothing a human being, as a social being,

when one embodies a historical cause greater than oneself, one becomes the size of the

difficulties and circumstances that one has to live we have had a heroic people. As President, I

have had to live up to the courageous people. To arm me with patience, a lot of faith and

confidence in the future, and to fight, as you say, to fight.

Fidel Castro often talked to Comandante Chávez, and I witnessed many conversations. And

Fidel always said: One must constantly fight in any circumstances until the last second one

must fight. Here we are fighting in all the events that have touched us and cultivating partial

victories that belong only to our people.

AI Mayadeen journalist Ghassan Ben Jeddou By the way, President, and where is citizen

Guaidó, nicknamed President?

President Nicolas Maduro Well is lost in the shadows and the loneliness of his failure. A

project, a sort of Frankenstein was, you know, the story of Frankenstein? A kind of good political

Frankenstein that failed. Imperialism believed that Venezuela belonged to them as their colony

and could put a president in a colonial way and invade it. And here there was a people who

stood up to them and told them. They will not pass to imperialism, their wimp, or their

Frankenstein. And they did not give. They are in the oblivion of history, in absolute failure. They

persist in this policy, well, they will last in delinquency and will continue sinking in a swamp,

they want to continue in the swamp, leave them alone in their swamp, imperialism and its

Frankenstein, and let us continue marching along our path of work, of well-being, of life, of

happiness.

AI Mayadeen journalist, Ghassan Ben Jeddou Well, in those years of crisis, Mr. President,

was there anyone who offered you proposals or temptations to resign and leave the government,

even to leave the country to be well, far away and safe? What can you reveal in this context?

President Nicolás Maduro Well, I have told you some things. At the time of Trump, he had

a gentleman named Elliot Abrams, head of an office called the Office of Transition for

Venezuela; he was a kind of viceroy appointed to govern the colonial territories of Venezuela

from the neo-colonialist vision of Trump and imperialism. That gentleman had the gall to send a

message to my wife, to Cilia, telling her to divorce me and that they would allow her to take the

whole family out of the country to the country of her choice; Then he also made an offer, that I

could decide the country I wanted to go and live in and that they would protect me, that is, that I

would betray the people of Venezuela, that I would cross the cause of Bolivar, the legacy of

Chavez, that I would become a traitor and hand Vene Zuela over to U.S. imperialism. In the

arrogance that characterizes them, the imperialists had this pretension that collided with the

reality of the Bolivarian morality that we carry forward.

Journalist of Al Mayadeen, Ghassan Ben Jeddou In the crises and the big problems, as it

has happened with you, there are always friends who are discovered in those moments,

supportive friends who have supported you, and also undoubtedly you have discovered those

who have let you down in times of crisis, whether they are leaders or governments. Now that

years have passed, can you tell us who has let you down during the crisis, either inside or

outside the country? Especially in Latin America, who supported you and stood by your side

despite the difficulties?

President Nicolás Maduro. I can tell you, Ghassan, that we had great surprises, great

surprises for good; the courage of many in the world, resistance movements in the world,

solidarity movements, heads of state, heads of government of the world who sent us support,

some sent them in private, taking care of reprisals from imperialism, but many others were

courageous in helping us, defending us, supporting us; we have always felt very accompanied.

In the United Nations Organization, several times they tried to deny the legitimacy of our

government, and every time they tried, we defeated them, with the support of the immense

majority of governments represented in the United Nations System. So l tell you that we have

felt accompanied, pleasantly accompanied by the world leadership, by the peoples of the world,

by the solidarity and resistance movements of the world.

Al Mayadeen journalist, But who has let you down, that is, who has surprised you with his

position?

President Nicolás Maduro. I was not surprised at all knew where the traitors were, and the

traitors acted at the time; what happened to those traitors? They dried up. I always say: He who

messes with Venezuela dries up. Where is, for example, Lenin Moreno, former President of

Ecuador? -Dried up. In oblivion, in the pit of history. Where is Mauricio Macri? Dried, Prosecuted

for corruption, in the pit of history's oblivion. And l could make you a list, a little longer. Still, it is

better to talk about valuable and positive things for our people than to remember those trash

bags.

Journalist from Al Mayadeen, Ghassan Ben Jeddou. Well, I ask you these questions, Mr.

President, because we consider that you have started to come out of the crisis in a severe way

after three years. We have discussed this hope at the economic and social level and seen it in

the people. But at the same time, you have achieved a significant victory in the last elections. In

your opinion, Mr. President, what are the popular, legal, and political results of these last

elections in Venezuela, which have been a great surprise for many? You achieved this victory

through a transparent electoral process without any doubt.

President Nicolás Maduro. These were genuinely exemplary elections; more than 300

international guests came international observers who registered the advanced, outstanding

level of Venezuela's automated election system. Some of these observers were witnesses and

said that it is the safest and most advanced electoral system they have seen in the world, which

fills us with satisfaction. These elections were the 29th in 21 years, twenty-one years of the

Bolivarian revolution. And it was victory number 27.

We are a real force that permanently renews itself in its discourse, in its action plans, renewing

itself in its leadership. It is essential, out of 335 mayoralties, we won 228, more than 65% Out of

24 federal territories, we won 21; that means 23 governorships: we won20, plus the capital

Caracas which is not a governorship but a mayoralty, a municipality; we won Caracas with 60%

of the votes genuinely believe that it was an election where all the ideological political factors of

the country participated, it has been a good victory. We have significant challenges; outstanding

commitments to fulfillment are the 27th victory in 29 elections. And whenever we have a

success, we constantly review ourselves, evaluate ourselves, and self-critically We always see

our plans for the future.

We recently had a strategic planning workshop with all the victorious candidates, and before the

end of the year, we will have ready the action plan for 2022, 2023, 2024. We do not rest on our

laurels; an experience, energy, and strength for the future come from each victory, and we plan

everything in detail. I could tell you that is the secret Ghassan, that is the secret of building a

revolution, much self-criticism, much self-examination, much permanent balance, readjustment,

and renewal of leaderships, renewal of plans, and one 24 hours a day alert, awake and working,

that is where we are at the end of this year 2021, tasting the sweet honey of victory, but also

preparing for the sacrifice, for the work and for new achievements for the years to come.

Al Mayadeen journalist Ghassan Ben Jeddou. In the color revolutions that have occurred in

several countries in Europe and others in the Arab world, a good part of them Were real revolts,

but most were artificial and induced. The armed forces and the army always appear to be on the

side of those who made those color revolutions. Those armed forces were either dispersed

or divided, or they made a coup as has happened for example, in Bolivia. In these last years,

perhaps there are two countries in which the armed forces stood by the side of the legitimate

authorities. Syria where the army stood by the legality and faced with force all the conspiracies

that came from abroad, and in Venezuela, here where you have an army, armed forces and

popular resistance forces, what do you tell uS about the role of those Bolivarian armed forces

and the popular forces in Venezuela?

President Nicolás Maduro. First of all, the Bolivarian National Armed Force is something new.

It was built as part of the country born from the National Constituent Assembly in 1999. There

has been a compelling foundation from the strategic doctrinal point of view, from the moral point

of view of the Venezuelan Armed Forces. In the first place, it assumed Bolivar's flag: the

Bolivarian National Armed Force, and it is not just any military force; it is a force that believes in

independence, anti-imperialist, and libertarian flag of the great liberator of America, Simón

Bolivar.

Was Commander Hugo Chavez the great military leader he was, Chávez summarized in himself

an integral leadership, a great military leader, a great political leader, a great social leader, a

great spiritual leader, a great world leader. Still, Chavez had a complete military formation, and

it was Commander Chávez who re-founded the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, all its

systems of schools academies, all its systems of discipline. He also endowed our Armed Force

with a new doctrine; he substituted the old doctrine of national security of the American empire

for the new doctrine of the war of all the people, of the war of resistance, based on the historical

experience of our heroes of the homeland. Commander Chávez organizationally re-founded the

Armed Force; he gave it a new organizational structure; we have eight Integral Defense

Regions, each state of the country is an Integral Defense Zone. 99 Integral Defense Areas. We

have a new organizational structure that covers the entire national territory. There are four

components: the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Bolivarian National Guard, and the

Bolivarian National Militia. We have 4 million 500 militiamen and women, and the Armed Force

assumes the alliance with the people, the civic-military partnership.

That is why the Armed Forces are the backbone of the revolution, the backbone of the

functioning of democracy, and the backbone of the existence of the Republic. It has played a

great role. It is another Armed Force with different morale; I could say it is a military force

independent of imperialism, it broke ties with imperialism. Because you know that U.S.

imperialism and the Europeans dedicate millions of dollars to recruit military and police in all the

countries of the world, and they offer them courses to go to the United States. When they go to

studies in the United States, they recruit them, turn them into agents of the United States within

their countries, and pay them. It is a system that has more than 100 years to influence. That is

why when progressive or leftist governments come, they carry out coups d'état with the military

forces, with the police forces that lend themselves, some troops, some captured by them, as

happened in Bolivia recently, as happened in Paraguay, as happened in Honduras, as

happened in Chile with Pinochet, who forged Augusto Pinochet in Chile? The CIA, the School of

the Americas Well, in Venezuela, Commander Chávez broke the ties with the dependence

towards the United States, with the domination of the United States, today we have independent

and sovereign military forces, the backbone of stability. Peace and democracy in Venezuela.

Al Mayadeen journalist, Ghassan Ben Jeddou Mr. President, we are obliged to take a short

break with your permission. Dear viewers, please stay with us. A brief pause, and then we

return to continue this memorable dialogue with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Welcome

Dear viewers

President

On a sincere personal level, your positions are well known, and Venezuela's positions are the

times of the great late leader Hugo Chavez. You have the side of always being on the

Similarly, positions have not just been caused globally, especially with the Palestinian cause.

Even in recent years, your position has not changed despite all the threats, pressures, and

perhaps even temptations. You have not changed your position on this just cause. My question

Mr. President in all frankness, has anyone during these years suggested you change your

positions on this cause and take a positive position towards the Israeli occupation? Although

Israel has been openly and has against you during the last crisis here, supported Guaidó and

the opposition, and has not hidden in that. Your position President in the previous battle of the

sword in Jerusalem was also a clear and robust favor position, and we are sincerely honored.

To what extent will you maintain the Palestinian cause, its people, its resistance, its actuality,

and all of Palestine?

President Nicolás Maduro Well, I believe that no one in this world dares to ask us to abandon

Palestine, no one, we would not accept that word, it would be a sin to hear it, it would be a sin to

think of abandoning and leaving Palestine alone. Palestine is sacred. Palestine is the sacred

people of three prophets and three prophets of the land of humanity. It is the people of Our Lord

Jesus Christ. It was in Palestine that the child Jesus was born. It is very big for us the land of

Palestine. Palestine sounds big, monumental.

The crime committed against the Palestinian people will one day be paid for. Palestine and its

people have the full support of Venezuela, of all the people of Venezuela, of the Bolivarian

revolution founded by Commander Chavez, and all my help today and always, they will have

our support. We love Palestine, all the people of Palestine, all its forces, we have excellent

relations with President Mahmud Abbas, and we wish Palestine the best. We have cooperation

agreements with Palestine, which are working quite well. We want to do more for Palestine, and

we would like to do more for Palestine.

I appeal to all the peoples of the world, to all the rulers of the world, I appeal to the Arab rulers,

to all, to the Muslim rulers, do not leave Palestine alone, Palestine deserves the courageous,

determined support of the Arab rulers and the Muslim rulers and the world rulers. Palestine cries

for help. Palestine cries for aid, daily crimes, murder of young people, what is happening in

Palestine, and the murders of the Zionist state have no name in this world. it has no name, it

does not happen anywhere in the world. The bombings, where children and girls are killed, the

assassinations every Good Friday at the mosques' gates, have no name. So all our support to

the Palestinian people, our love, and a big kiss to the heart of Palestine.

Al Mayadeen journalist, Ghassan Ben Jeddou. Oh Mr. President Maduro, if some Arab

leaders and some Arab forces that are normalizing with the occupation listen to that historical

and robust cry of yours, on behalf of the Arab public opinion, we salute you Mr. President and

thank you very much.

In this same context, ten years passed in which Syria has resisted, and we can say that it has

triumphed, although the fact of reversing this triumph would need some time, it has been

several years that you have maintained a constant and clear position, you have not changed

and even the last time have met you, and you were in crisis, you were talking about Syria with

optimism. Today Syria, as I told you, is triumphing, and the person of President Bashar AI Asad

has shown great courage and steadfastness. What do you tell us, being equally a great

courageous person who resists steadfastly and today is victorious from the crisis?

President Nicolas Maduro. Well, President Bashar Al Asad is a brave man, he is a hero, he is

a ghazi, he is a great man indeed, President Bashar Al Asad also has a beautiful family, and he

has gorgeous people Here in Venezuela we have a large community of Syrian people,

enormous, almost 1 million Syrian descendants in Venezuela, in nearly every city there is a

Syrian-Venezuelan club, well where all the cultural manifestations of Syria take place, it is an

economically sound community, robust, we have a great affection I know Syria well, as

Chancellor l went many times, l accompanied Commander Chavez in Syria on many tours we

were able to travel, Commander Chávez at the wheel, we were able to travel through roads

towns in Syria, we reached Sweida, Sweidazuela they call it because it is the town where

everyone is Syrian and Venezuelanat the same time, we traveled there, I remember I went once

with Minister Tareck El Aissami, we went to Sweida, and we saw the peach, grape and apple

plantations, and the people came out and gave us fruits, we loved Syria very much.

It has had to endure a criminal terrorist war, the Syrian people have suffered a lot in the last 11

years, and they have resisted. They have been able to win. And I am sure that the Syrian Arab

Army, that the Syrian people in perfect unity, and President Bashar Al Assad will make Syria

flourish again they will ultimately recover Syria, and the Arab world and the world will be

amazed at how Syria in the years to come will be reborn, lam Sure of that.

The journalist from Al Mayadeen, Ghassan Ben Jeddou. Mr. President, your revolutionary

positions are known. At the same time, you are concerned about maintaining good relations with

all the Arab countries today Venezuela is coming out of its crisis, perhaps some Arab countries

have let you down with their indecisive, hesitant, and wavering positions; let's leave it aside, the

main thing we want to know now is what would you do in Venezuela and the Arab world, at the

level of bilateral relations? Whether in the economic or in the context of joint cooperation at the

level of international relations.

President Nicolás Maduro. We have good relations with all Arab countries, all of them, we

have been OPEC partners for more than 60 years, good partners in OPEC. With all Arab lands

and governments, both republican governments and monarchies, we make no distinction of

brotherhood, we have political dialogue, we have permanent dialogue, and we take care of oil

prices and the oil market. We have good diplomatic, cultural, and political relations. A few years

ago, Venezuela assumed the presidency of the Forum of Arab Countries and South America.

The Foreign Ministry is going to take a set of initiatives now in 2022 to reactivate the

cooperation mechanisms between all the Arab countries and all South America and to be able

to build the ties that were approved in the financial, monetary investment, commercial, and

interconnection flights. I believe that we can do many things in the years to come, and I think we

will do them because the Arab world loves us. I know that Arab rulers and peoples love

Venezuela. They admire Venezuela equally. We have cultivated extraordinary relations, well we

are prepared. I take advantage of this interview by Al Mayadeen to say to all the rulers, to all the

peoples, to the investors, come and invest in Venezuela. Venezuela is the country of

opportunities. We give all the constitutional and legal guarantees for investments in oil, gas,

petrochemicals, tourism, gold, diamonds, iron, steel, aluminum, food production, all guarantees

Al Mayadeen reporter, Ghassan Ben Jeddou. As we talk about the region Mr president, we

know that you have good relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Iran has a new

president today Mr. Ebrahim Raisi. How do you see this relationship? What do you want from

this relationship essentialy? And we would like to know for your relations were good in recent

years, particularly during the blockade and the crisis and the sanctions that have been imposed

on them.

President Nicolás Maduro. We have always had excellent relations with the Islamic Republic

of Iran, former President Ahmadinejad, with fornmer President Rouhani, and now President

Raisi. I have spoken to him twice on the phone. We have agreed on a set of new plans. The

Joint Commission between the two countries is working on new projects for the Iran-Venezuela

relationship and cooperation. Very soon, I am going to travel to Tehran to attend this visit that

President Raisi has made to me so that we can meet per- personally, to develop conversations,

to sign new agreements, new documents, to accelerate the processes of cooperation at all

levels, at all levels of collaboration between two independent, sovereign countries, two fighting

countries such as Iran and Venezuela. I also have great admiration for Ayatollah Khamenei.

Every time I go to Iran, I like to talk to the Ayatollah. He is a man of great wisdom, great

intelligence. And so I hope, inshallah, that I will be able to speak again with the Ayatollah in the

next visit.

Journalist of Al Mayadeen, Ghassan Ben Jeddou. These days, Mr. President, there is a sad

anniversary. We are on the eve of the second anniversary of the assassination of Major General

Commander Martyr Qasem Soleimani, God rest his soul. You personally, Mr. President, when

did you hear about this news, how did you personally react to it, what do you know about this

man in essence, about his role, about the place he occupied? President Nicolás Maduro, I had

the good fortune to meet Major General Soleimani, he visited us in March, April 2019, and we

talked. We were in the midst of the crisis of the electrical attack made by the imperialists of the

North against the Venezuelan Electrical System. They disrupted our system for two months, and

Soleimani came to Venezuela at that time, and we talked about different areas of cooperation,

including the issue of the Electrical System. And everything we discussed with him came true.

He was also a smiling man, optimistic about life. Thank God for having known him. He was a

man who stood up to terrorism, the bloody criminals of terrorism who have attacked the peoples,

the axis of resistance, and a brave man. Found out that day that Dr. Delcy Rodriguez informed

me, the Vice President. She told me there is some news coming in about the possible

assassination of Major General Soleimani, the hero Soleimani. I found it incredible when I saw

that terrible crime ordered from the White House. It is an unbelievable thing. Humanity has to

conclude these horrible crimes. Is that the world we want for humanity in the future? Where the

order is given from the White House to assassinate a hero of the fight against terrorism in the

whole region of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, is that the world we want? No, the world we, the

people, want is a world of peace, respect, and prevalence of international law. That cannot be

the world of madness, extremism. No, it cannot be. So we raise our protest once again for this

criminal assassination against his martyr and hero of the peoples, General Soleimani.

Al Mayadeen journalist, Ghassan Ben Jeddou. In this month also Mr. President there is

another anniversary, maybe it is another pleasant memory, and it is for us too, on December 8.

Two thousand twelve here near us, the great leader and Commander Hugo Chavez announced

that you would be his successor, and he appointed you as Vice President. It seems that

Comandante Chávez was right in that matter, and the proof is the trajectory you have

implemented. But can you, President, tell us some behind the scenes of those days? Did that

surprise you? And how did he talk to you about it? Please, behind the scenes, behind the

scenes.

President Nicolás Maduro. Well, on some occasions, has talked about this issue,

when Commandant Chávez won the elections of October 7, 2012, he appointed me as

Vice President of the Republic, I was Chancellor, I continued being Chancellor for a few months

and assumed the Vice Presidency of the Republic. In those days of October,

November, Comandante Chávez felt great pains in his body, in the area where he had been

affected by this disease, and well, he went to see his doctors in Havana, Cuba, and they made

the examinations and detected that new ailments had appeared, new tumors that had

reproduced themselves at an accelerated rate. The doctors themselves could not find a

scientific answer as to how the disease had been born in such a powerful and accelerated

way. Faced with the possibility of a major operation, a new function, well, he began to

reflect, he called me and made me send a delegation to Cuba where Diosdado Cabello

Rondón, my wife Cilia, among others, were present; they went to Cuba, they met with him and

explained to them the new situation that could arise, and he told them that if something should

happen where he could not continue as President, Nicolás should take over They came back

from Cuba and told me. For me, it was a big blow, very strong, Especially because knew that

when Chávez thought something and made a decision, it was cause he had already foreseen

that something was going to happen or could happen sent for me to call me that same day and I

went to Cuba. And we were talking in the early morning from the night of December 5 to the

early morning of December 6, five, six hours we spoke. Comrade Jorge Arreaza, former foreign

minister and now a candidate for governor in the state of Barinas, was there as a witness, he

took note of everything, and he explained to me, he told me the scenarios that could come after

such a robust operation, and he told me: Nicolas, if something happens to me, now it is your

turn, now it is your turn, he repeated it to me several times. All this in a young man like me, a

person who was psychologically prepared to be a soldier of Chavez all his life, to accompany

him in the battlefront that he put me in, well, it was a decisive blow. But we revolutionaries are

obliged to assimilate any circumstance we may have to live. And as revolutionaries, to be ready

for the battle, we have to fight, overcome pains, anguish, sorrows, and face And so it was.

Then he came from Cuba to Venezuela, as you know, on December 8, 2012, in that room we

are in now, Office One, there is the chair where he spoke and told the people: If something

happens to me, elect this man Nicolás Maduro Moros, President of the Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela. Nine years have passed, nine years that could be 100, for all that we have lived.

And inside feel satisfaction for having been loyal to the legacy of Comandante Chávez, for

having been faithful to the oath I swore to him, and for continuing to lead with a victorious lag,

the flag of Venezuela

Journalist from AI Mayadeen, Ghassan Ben Jeddou. Mr. you are the President. At the end of

this meeting, I ask you a personal question related to Nicolás Maduro, the husband, the father,

and the man. His wife is Mrs. Cilia Flores, and here in Venezuela, they do not call her First

Lady, but First Combatant. Is your partner in struggle and she is a real fighter, and she has even

been President of the National Assembly at a particular time; this lady throughout the last years

when we came here, we realized that she was always by your side in good times and the wrong,

she even accompanied you in your visits to military barracks, what can you tell us about this

great woman? And how do Nicolás Maduro, the husband, and the father act?

President Nicolás Maduro. Well, Cilia is a leader of our country, she has her character, her

personality, her ideas, she has had her trajectory as a congresswoman, as head of the United

Socialist Party of Venezuela in one period, Attorney General of the Republic in another period,

and it has been her tun for nine years to ac Company me in this complex mission, to

accompany me in all the battles we have fought together, together with our family; And it has

been her good fortune for nine years to accompany me in this challenging mission, to

accompany me in all the battles we have fought together, together with our family, always

having her presence in all the events, in all the things we do together because life is to share it,

life as a couple is to share all the moments, and for one to have, we have a permanent internal

dialogue about all the topics, about the family, the children, the grandchildren, the

granddaughters, we have a dialogue about well, the topics with our friends, we cultivate our old

friendships, we visit our old friends in their houses, and we have a permanent dialogue about

the politics of the country, about the world; we debate, we don't always agree on the same

opinion. She is very sharp in her opinions. She is very firm in her opinions

AI Mayadeen journalist, Ghassan Ben Jeddou. And criticism, criticism.

President Nicolás Maduro. Yes, that's right, yes, and good.

AI Mayadeen journalist, Ghassan Ben Jeddou. And she seeks to change and renewal just

like you, President.

President Nicolás Maduro. Yes, yes, and she has a cynical eye to see things, for good and for

foul, she sees like laser beams, she sees beyond what anyone sees, so really she, that is why

people call her the First Lady, she is not the old institution of the First Lady, that is where the

institution of the First Lady comes from, First Lady No, no, this is a woman With her personality

accompanying the President who is her husband, and fighting for her country. She never stops

fighting for the children, for the girls, for the youth, for the Venezuelan woman. She is a truly

great leader. feel very proud to be married to a great leader of our country, Cilia Flores

AI Mayadeen journalist Ghassan Ben JeddouBefore I say goodbye to you, Mr. President, let

me ask you, what is your message to the Al Mayadeen channel?

President Nicolás Maduro. Well,I thank AI Mayadeen for having this attention towards the

peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, for permanently broadcasting information on social

networks, for his Cooperation with Telesur, we have to continue uniting the entire region of the

Arab world, the Middle East, the Muslim world with Latin America and the Caribbean We have

to do much more to connect, to unite spiritually, culturally, politically, to know what is happening

in each country, learning from the struggle and the life of each Country. Thank Al Mayadeen for

all the role he plays and thanks to him for allowing me to take our message, our love, our

solidarity to our Arab brothers, to our Arab sisters, we love the Arab people, we love the Arab

cause and our Muslim brothers in the world, we feel our Muslim brothers are true brothers.

They think that in Latin America, they have true friends, here in Latin America. We have to unite

our peoples, unite them more and more to see how the dreams of peace, progress, prosperity,

and life come true, so I thank you.

Salam Alaikum to all

Al Mayadeenjournalist, GhassanBen Jeddou. Thank you, Mr. President, for this valuable

time of yours and these kind words of yours. We are always pleased and honored to visit you,

as well as to welcome you in our Arab region with God's favor.

Dear viewers. Thank you for your kind attention and until a new meeting, God willing. God Is

with you.