A candidate for the forthcoming European Parliament elections, Cllr. Éilis Ryan of the Workers’ Party, has condemned a vote by the European Parliament to back the attempted overthrow of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. 

Cllr. Ryan, a city councillor contesting the Dublin election in May’s European elections, said: 

“Like every other US intervention – from Cuba to Iraq to Chile and Argentina in the 1980s – the attempt to overthrow Nicolás Maduro has nothing to do with human rights and everything to do with oil, and asserting US power around the globe.

“A vote, initiated by Fine Gael’s right wing allies in Europe, took place last week in the European Parliament which granted tacit backing to Trump’s coup effort in Venezuela. Shamefully, the European Parliament voted to capitulate to Trump’s bully-boy foreign policy.”

Cllr. Ryan continued:

“For decades, Irish people have proudly stood in solidarity with oppressed people in Cuba, in Palestine and, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, in Latin America. This never meant supporting ever single policy in those countries. But it always meant standing up for countries which the US, repeatedly, attempted to bully, interfere with and oppress. 

“Given Ireland’s own history of fighting against colonialism, it is totally inexcusable that Irish politicians backed Donald Trump’s efforts to ramp up the US re-colonisation of Latin America, by installing a puppet President in Latin America.” 

Cllr. Ryan concluded: 

“It is clear from the last elections – which were fully endorsed by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Venezuela – and from pro-Maduro mobilisations on the streets of Caracas, that the US-backed coup effort has no legitimacy in Venezuela. It is inexcusable that many Irish MEPs have chosen to support Donald Trump above the will of the Venezuelan people. 

“Ireland’s priority must be to prevent US actions which would destabilise Venezuela into civil war. I am calling on the Minister for Foreign Affairs to join Greece, New Zealand, Secretary General of the UN, and dozens of countries worldwide, in vocally recognising Nicolás Maduro as the rightful President of Venezuela.”