Venezuela Supports Brazil and Argentina on a Common Currency

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday announced his support for the initiative presented by his counterparts in Argentina, Alberto Fernández, and Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to create a common currency for the region.

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"Today, President Lula da Silva and President Alberto Fernandez announced that they will take steps to create a common currency for South America. I announce that Venezuela is ready and we support the initiative to create a Latin American and Caribbean currency," he said.

Within the framework of the Great National March against the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Venezuela by the United States, the head of state welcomed the initiative and declared "independence, union and liberation of Latin America and the Caribbean." 

In addition, the Venezuelan leader sent a greeting "of union and liberation to the peoples" of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), who will meet this Tuesday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the 7th Summit of CELAC.

Earlier in the day, Presidents Fernández and Da Silva held a meeting in which they reaffirmed their commitment to Latin American integration and assured that they had made progress in discussions on a common South American currency "that can be used for both financial and trade flows, reducing operating costs and our external vulnerability."

Unity against coercion

President Maduro also congratulated the Venezuelan people who took to the streets in the great march, emphasizing their conscience and that the nation "is at peace, is united and the victory belongs to us, the mobilized and Bolivarian people."

"Today, the people have marched for a just cause and I call on you to remain permanently mobilized to achieve the unity of the entire Venezuelan nation against the criminal sanctions that are torturing the economic and social body of Venezuela, against the criminal blockade and persecution of our homeland," he said.

He also pointed out that every January 23 will not only commemorate the anniversary of the "historic awakening, of that civil-military uprising of the people against the last military dictatorship," but that from that day on, "it will also commemorate the victory of the Venezuelan people against Yankee imperialism and its defeated coup."

The President emphasized that the revolutionary people, mobilized in the streets, have once again demonstrated that "we are the majority, we are the joy, we are the children of Hugo Chávez Frías.