Venezuela, opposition leader Figuera: “Maduro should step aside for the good of the country”

Madrid (Spain), Nov. 4 (LaPresse) – “We hope common sense will prevail, that Nicolas Maduro steps aside and allows the construction of a democratic path in Venezuela, and that drugs are no longer the country’s main export product.” This is what Venezuelan opposition leader Dinorah Figuera, who succeeded Juan Guaidó as president of the opposition National Assembly—acting as a parallel parliament to the official one—told LaPresse, commenting on the rising tension in the Caribbean Sea. “Maduro has only a few days, if not hours, to make a decision. We hope he chooses for the good of the population, leaves power, and allows Venezuela to have a democratic government,” Figuera said. The opposition leader, who fled her country and now lives in Valencia, did not comment on U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to increase military deployment in the Caribbean, attributing it to the fight against drug trafficking. “What is happening is the product of a country attacking another country through organized crime and drug trafficking,” she said. “We respect each country’s decision to act when its security and public health are at risk,” she added, emphasizing that, in her view, countries should act jointly against drug trafficking due to the risks it poses to everyone. Figuera argued that Venezuela has become a “narco-dictatorship, basing its economic production on drug exploitation and production.”