The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, was sworn in this Thursday in the Supreme Court of Justice for the constitutional period 2019-2025.

“I have complied with the Constitution, here I am, since today I assume the Presidency of the Republic for the second term by order of the people,” he said after being sworn in.

The president recalled in his speech the media campaign that has been woven against Venezuela and recalled that “twenty years we have at least being subjected to a campaign of manipulation.”

“We in Venezuela defend ourselves from manipulation, mediatic lies, politics, ambushes (…) Venezuela is a profoundly democratic country, we could say that democracy was consolidated in the country 20 years ago with the Constitution and the Constituent Assembly” , he stressed.

Venezuela maintains a solid democracy

He also reiterated that in that nation there is a solid, deep, popular and revolutionary democracy of the working class, of the humble, of the workers, of the people, “not an elite democracy or magnates.”

“Venezuela is a democracy not only solid in the electoral, it is a democracy under construction for a socialist, communal and revolutionary vision (…) It has a people that participates permanently in the social, economic and political processes of their communities,” he added.

Defense of freedom and independence

Nicolás Maduro reaffirmed the call of the Bolivarian Revolution to the peoples of the world to take up the banners in defense of freedom and independence in the face of the pretensions of the hegemonic powers to impose imperialist ideology.

“The world is bigger than the American empire and its satellite governments, there is a world beyond, here we are present, it is no longer the hegemonic and unipolar world and to that world, Venezuela opens its arms of respect, cooperation and brotherhood”, he maintained.

He also stressed the importance of continuing to strengthen the integration blocs, such as the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America (ALBA) and Petrocaribe “that are seriously threatened because they want to impose again the intolerant, imperialist, interventionist ideology that characterized the twentieth century of Latin America and the Caribbean”.

The dignitary assumes a new period for which he has committed to “promote the changes that are needed in Venezuela, to defend the right to peace and respect for the Constitution”.

Nicolás Maduro was elected president on April 14, 2013 after the death of President Hugo Chávez. On May 20 last year he was re-elected with 67.7 percent of the vote.

Normally, the swearing-in takes place in the National Assembly (AN), however, as it is in judicial contempt since 2016, all its acts are null and void.

At least 112 countries have recognized the investiture of the Venezuelan president for the new presidential term.

Armed Forces Pledge Allegiance to President Maduro

After his swearing-in ceremony at Venezuela’s Supreme Court (TSJ), the National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) pledged allegiance to Nicolas Maduro as president and commander-in-chief for the 2019-2025 term.

“With the heart I accept the sacred oath you’ve made with loyalty, discipline and subordination,” Maduro told over 4,000 members of the armed forces at the Military Bolivarian University of Venezuela (UMBV) at Tiuna Fort in Caracas Thursday.

“You have faced so many attacks from the Guarimbas (far-right rioters) and much more.”

The president was accompanied by international representatives and heads of state, such as Cuba’s Miguel Diaz-Canel and Bolivia’s Evo Morales, while the Military High Command recognized him as its commander-in-chief.

“The Supreme Commander Hugo Chavez carried out a military revolution in Venezuela, but that revolution can’t stop,” Maduro said. “It’s time to deepen the military revolution of Venezuela.”

During the ceremony, Maduro pledged to increase the military capacity of the FANB over the next six years and update the arms system “to defend national sovereignty.”

“Simon Bolivar was a visionary, as well as Commander Hugo Chavez,” Maduro continued.

“They saw the future. They didn’t remain stagnant in the past, nor in the problems or difficult circumstances of the present.”

Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino Lopez said the people of Venezuela “chose Nicolas Maduro as their president through the legitimate exercise of their sovereignty” and that the armed forces accepted “its orders without any doubt.”

“Always loyal, never traitors,” said Padrino Lopez while gifting Maduro a replica of the sword of Rafael Urdaneta, one of Venezuela’s independence heroes.

Maduro said the Venezuelan people were undertaking “an epic, heroic battle to tell the world that Venezuela must be respected, and that it’s ruled by Venezuelans without any foreign government intervention.”

teleSUR