Maduro: We Are at the Forefront of the Fight Against Corruption

The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, said this Monday that his government had taken a frontal position in the fight against corruption and corrupt people in the framework of the cases investigated in the country.

"We have taken a vertical, frontal, absolute position: the fight against corruption and the corrupt, against those who steal from the people, wherever they are, wherever they come from, whatever they believe," said the President.

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He also stated that the investigation of these cases has been going on for weeks and that "I have personally carried it out with the active collaboration of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic and all its organs.

"I have the absolute will and the definitive decision to go to the roots and dismantle all these mafias we have discovered with their hands in the cookie jar. It was an investigation carried out professionally, scientifically and in a balanced way," he added.

The Head of State said that the punishment of all the corrupt must be exemplary and explained that in this first stage, business people, managers, high officials of state institutions and a congressman had been captured.

"We have gone after everyone and we must guarantee, within the framework of the rule of law and justice, that the truth will prevail and that our people will know the truth. Nothing and no one will stop us in our will and our determination to punish this mafia, bring justice, dismantle it, and completely cleanse the fronts that we have attacked in this first operation," the President emphasized.

The President also asked the Venezuelan people for their support and to be more united than ever "in this battle that we will win against corruption and the corrupt.

He also urged the Venezuelan people to take the offensive against the corrupt. "Have absolute confidence that here you have fighters, warriors of the fight for truth, for justice, of the permanent fight against corruption and the mafias," he said. 

President Maduro also spoke about the corruption of the right-wing that "stole billions of dollars delivered by the government of the United States from Venezuelan accounts abroad (...) The bandit, the thief Juan Guaidó, for example" and called for justice for the resources stolen by this ultra-right wing that "were those who called for the sanctions against the Venezuelan economy, against the Venezuelan people, who have done so much damage to the country."

On the other hand, he informed that the Sectoral Vice President of Economy and Minister of Petroleum, Tareck El Aissami, resigned and expressed willingness to support all investigations against the gangster groups.

"He has ratified his condition as a revolutionary fighter and is willing to cooperate with all investigations. I have decided to accept the resignation to facilitate all the investigations that must lead to the establishment of the truth, the punishment of the guilty and justice in all these cases, in all these fronts that we have opened in the fight against corruption", stated the Executive.

For his part, the First Vice President of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) ratified the commitment to be at the forefront of the fight against corruption, together with the Head of State.