Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. It has an abundance of other natural resources, such as gold, bauxite and coltan, but many of the resources in the hands of the Maduro government are not easily accessible to US and transnational corporations. Much of the oil industry was nationalised in 1973 and it is quite obvious that the latest coup attempt - let us remember it is not the first or the only one - has been done to get the US's hands on Venezuelan oil.

I felt sick listening to the points that Deputy Niall Collins made. It is not true that none of the opposition took part in the elections. Some did and some recognised its fairness after all. One cannot whinge about elections not being fair while supporting as an alternative somebody who assumed a position and who could not be bothered standing in an election but came along at the behest of the US puppet masters and decided he would be president. For the recent Irish presidential election of Michael D. Higgins, the turnout was 43% whereas in Venezuela, it was 46%. If I say Michael D. does not have a mandate and I will be the President, do we want Donald Trump to support that over the heads of the Irish people? Where are the Venezuelan people? They are on the streets in their millions saying, "Yankees, go home" and "Hands off Venezuela". They have seen it before in Chile and in the interventions in Syria and so on. I am sickened to the pit of my being by the issue. It will be a game-changer if it is allowed to go ahead.

When we were first elected, I remember the former Deputy, Ms Lucinda Creighton, standing in the Chamber and telling us to support the initiative of our European pals in the bombing of Libya. She said it was for democracy and that it would make matters better for Libyans. Look at the state of that country now. Many people have been killed and the society is a basket case in utter disarray. We have visited Iraq and seen the aftermath of the slaughter during the intervention there. We have visited Syria twice in the past number of years and seen the outcome of the intervention there. Will we please stop meddling in the business of other countries?

I note that Deputy Collins did not say anything about the Italians, the Greeks or the people who have stood by the elected Government of Venezuela and said, "back off." They will not recognise the imposter Guaidó. There are significant problems with the Venezuelan economy - there are significant problems with our economy - but Venezuela managed to build 2 million social houses last year and, therefore, it is doing some things right. The cause of those problems, however, is the sanctions imposed by the West.

A recent report by the UN special rapporteur, who is the first person to undertake such a project in Venezuela in 21 years, was very clear about what he saw in Venezuela last year. He said the sanctions are illegal and that they could amount to crimes against humanity under international law. This is the former Secretary General of the United Nations Human Rights Council and an expert in international law. The orchestrated sanctions are killing people and have put pressure on the economy, forced people to emigrate, caused a run on medicines, caused all the economic problems and interfered with the currency, and they were orchestrated to weaken the leadership, which the US attempted and failed to do under Chávez and which it is now attempting to do under Maduro. If we were truly neutral, we would stand in Europe and tell the US to back off and keep out. We should take a leaf from the Greeks and the Italians, rather than slavishly following the rest of Europe. It is an appalling situation.

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