We Venezuelans must choose our own path | Letter

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Regarding your report (Dictator ousted but regime intact – what next for Venezuela’s opposition?, 18 January), I spent the early hours of Saturday 3 January watching how my country was being bombed by the United States.

While many Venezuelans hoped that Edmundo González Urrutia would be installed as the new president or that new elections would be called, those possibilities now feel further away than ever.

As your report points out, Donald Trump has claimed that the US must first “rebuild” Venezuela, suggesting we are incapable of holding our own elections.

We are left at a crossroads between two impossible sides: one who cannot even rebuild his own country, and another who has no intention of allowing a fair vote to happen.

What my country needs is self-determination through clear and transparent elections. We do not need bombs, and we do not need contracts with the American oil industry. We must choose our own path. Only when the world values democracy more than oil will we finally be ourselves.
Gabriel Moncada Belisario
Barcelona, Venezuela

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