Son of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is in Nepal on invitation of the ruling CPN.
Nicolas Maduro Guerra, 27, serves as Head of the Corps of Special Inspectors of the Presidency and Coordinator of the National Film School of Venezuela. He arrived on Saturday leading a 15-member team to participate in a program of the youth wing of CPN.
Chairman of the youth wing Ram Prasad Sapkota confirmed with Setopati that a 15-member team led by general secretary of the youth wing of the ruling party in Venezuela is currently in Nepal.
"I don't know whose son or grandson the person is. Our youth wing and the party of Venezuelan president are in the same international organization," Sapkota stated. "We had also gone there on a visit some time back. They have come here this time."
He revealed that the Venezuelan team includes three assistant ministers. "A formal program was held at Yak and Yeti Hotel on Sunday. Jhala Nath Khanal was the chief guest. We talked about youth movement in the two countries," he elaborated.
The team including Maduro's son also met secretariat members Bam Dev Gautam and Narayan Kaji Shrestha. "They have met with the comrades of peasant and international departments," Sapkota stated.
Whether the team will meet Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli and CPN Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has yet to be decided. "They are taking initiative. But whether they will meet the chairman duo has yet to be finalized," he revealed.
CPN lawmaker in the National Assembly Balaram Baskota said the team including Maduro's son welcomed the CPN's electoral victory in Nepal. "They met lawmakers Monday morning," Baskota, who has visited Venezuela, stated. "They are victim of an imperialist country like America like we are from Indian interventions. It was also seen recently in the episode of pesticide testing."
CPN Chairman Dahal's press statement on the political developments of Venezuela had created a storm at the start of year.
"Communist Party of Nepal issues this statement in support of the people of Venezuela, the sovereignty of the state and the recognition of democratically elected constitutional President of Nicholas Maduro," the press statement issued in the name of Chairman Dahal on January 25 read, "Communist Party of Nepal also strongly denounces the US and its allies intervention in the internal affairs of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with the intention of increasing the violence by diving the people and challenging democracy, sovereignty and peace."
In the press release, Dahal accused the US of trying to create chaos and violence in Venezuela by putting inhuman economic sanctions and threatening military intervention. “It’s a serious challenge to the UN Charter and Principle of peaceful co-existence. Therefore, we call the US and other countries to respect the principle of noninterference, national sovereignty and peaceful co-existence.”
Juan Guaido on January 23 declared himself interim president claiming that the constitution gives him, as president of the congress, the authority to take over as interim president and form a transitional government until he calls new elections. The US and 16 nations of the Organization of American States immediately recognized Guaido as interim president.
Dahal had also appealed to the international community including the UN to stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela in their struggle to defend the national and people’s sovereignty.
The US Embassy in Nepal had sought the government's official position on the political developments in the Latin American country after Dahal's statement and the Foreign Ministry on January 29 issuing a statement said the government believes that there should be no external interference in internal affairs of any country.
Dahal's statement had also led to some tension between the two CPN chairmen. PM Oli, who was in Switzerland when Dahal issued the statement, had called the statement a faux pas and claimed that such a statement would not have been issued if he were in Nepal then.
But Dahal hit back at Oli for calling his statement on Venezuela a faux pas and stressed that an individual opinion does not matter when the party's secretariat has already endorsed his statement.
