On the occasion of the end of year 2024, President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro saluted the Bolivarian Armed Forces of the country for their services to the nation during this year. teleSUR
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00:00We're back to this hill, the Ayacucho Hill, as we call it.
00:12To the left, Bolívar, Sucre.
00:21On horseback, on America's hills, with the satisfaction of having been warriors of freedom,
00:35of having broken the chains of domain that had been imposed on our peoples over 300 years
00:49ago by the Spanish imperialism, by European imperialism, 200 years ago.
00:58Here we have Pizarro's symbol, his shield.
01:24In the Bolívar in Caracas, we use this symbol.
01:30He carried this flag, Pizarro carried this flag in his fights through Latin America against
01:48the Atahualpa emperor, hurting the Quechua peoples of Latin America, and Aymara tribes
01:59as well.
02:07In 1554, 290 years later, on a day like this, the great Ayacucho marshal entered in Cusco,
02:25former capital of the Inca Empire and of the Aymara tribes and the Quechua tribes.
02:38The inheritors of Atahualpa gave him Pizarro's flag as a symbol of defeat, of their defeat.
02:52And here we have this flag upside down as it should be, before our eyes, surrendered
03:05before our eyes and our feet, the empires, any empire that may want to tempt our history,
03:16want to trample with our history.
03:22The flags of any empire will be subjected to the feet of the Venezuelan people, of a
03:32people of the liberator, of the great liberator.
03:41The flags of all the territories and countries that were freed by the liberator's army,
03:55these are beautiful flags.
03:58Over there, the beautiful flag of Panama, our sister nation, Panama, which was freed
04:06by Simon Bolivar, Panama, which from the Orinoco River was part of the great Colombia,
04:18Panama, the great Panama of our Bolivarian general, Omar Torrijos.
04:26From this Ayacucho Hill, 200 years after that victory, I say, long live Panama, long live
04:33Omar Torrijos, long live the Panamanian people.
04:47And next to it, it's the flag of Bolivia, a country that is also a sister nation to
05:00us.
05:01And in the center, you see the flag of Peru.
05:12And over here, we have the flag of Ecuador, which is subjected to fascism and drug trafficking.
05:28And also, the flag of Colombia, our sister nation of Colombia.
05:56And in our flag, the stars, and the eighth star in our flag includes the Guayana and
06:01the Zikiva, and it will always be part of our territory.
06:12Here is our flag.
06:15This is the flag of the defeated empire, and over there, there is the freedom flag.
06:27We know where we come from, and we know our history, the history we fight for.
06:44And that's why we have a coherent movement in favor of sovereignty and to secure people's
06:53power for defense.
07:00These are our commanders of the armed forces of the aviation, the major generals of the
07:12Bolivarian Army.
07:31Mr. Vice President, Captain Diosdado Cabello, Dr. Beatriz Rodriguez-Rodriguez, President
07:47of the Justice Supreme Court, Dr. Elvis Huidobo, President of the Electoral Council, Dr. Gustavo
08:11Vizcaína, General Comptroller of the Republic, and to all ministers present here, the head
08:22of the Caracas government, and to all people present in this magnificent gathering.
08:32And I said it was very important, it is very important, to know the history, to know our
08:39history, to feel that we embody the ideals and the dreams, the energy, the spiritual
08:50force of our forefathers, of the giants that this land built, that were born in this land
09:02and made popular armies in an unprecedented feat, armies that counted on poor peasants,
09:16on slaves, on natives, on black and white people, armies made of men and women who came
09:32together in Margarita, in the eastern part, in Guyana, in the valleys, in the Andes Mountains,
09:48in Zulia, in the western part of our territory, who were able to walk all the way, or on horseback,
10:02and to cross 5,000, 8,000 kilometers. They were claiming history in the name of the people,
10:17not in the name of Spanish kings. We do not come from imperial armies, or repiant armies.
10:30Our armies were made to break the chains of empires and free the Latin American peoples
10:42forever and ever. Today, we have retaken that path. We may say today, without a shred of a doubt,
11:06that the Bolivarian army, its four buddies, plus the national Bolivarian militia,
11:16we are the heirs of the popular liberating army of Bolivar. Today, we are the Bolivarian army again.
11:30I want to salute the 126 military units across Venezuela, which are part of a defense regional
11:52unit, over 84,724 troops, who are attuned to this year's salutation. A round of applause to all our
12:10military brothers and sisters. I want to say just the right words when I say that today, we are,
12:33indeed, a new edition of the Simón Bolívar's army, the army of Junín de Ayacucho. We are,
12:51again, that army, the great army of the Ayacucho marshal, and we have the same duty.
12:59We are not an army to exploit, to serve oligarchies, to act on behalf of people who
13:22sell their homeland. We are not an army to serve the U.S. empire or any empire of Europe. We are
13:34a national Bolivarian armed force to defend Venezuela's right to its future as an independent
13:44nation with its own independent political model and cultural model. We are a national army to
13:54guarantee the right of our people, of our country, to move forward as a free nation, with full
14:09sovereignty and independence. We have the right to choose our own path on this 21st century. That's
14:18why I'm saying that we are the United Liberators Army of the 21st century, and we have to defend
14:32the great cause of the Venezuelan homeland, no matter the price, wherever, under whatever
14:40circumstances. We are the inheritors of this land of the sun. On this 24th year, we have been tested
14:56and a really good trial. It's been a year of great lessons in every aspect of the life, of the national life, and
15:21especially in the military area. I need to congratulate the Bolivarian Army for the Bolivarian shield operation,
15:37activated 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Bolivarian Army, with all its reaction and action units, and with their
15:55capacity for intelligence and counterintelligence and daily surveillance, they were able to consolidate what we have
16:05today, peace in our territory, in every piece of Venezuelan territory. How is the morale of our women in the Army?
16:21It's important the fact that the Bolivarian shield operation went from an episodical thing to a bigger scale.
16:51And all of the heads of this Army are here. They have become a permanent vigilant Army, because Venezuela has very perverse enemies, not just up in the north,
17:18but the worst is that we have Trojan horses among ourselves, which serve the north's interests in dividing us. Although these opposing forces have been defeated over 25 years of revolution,
17:44but they're still a threat, so we have to be alert. I need to ring a bell of alert. 200 years ago, no one was able to send a warning against the intrigues and lies and division and pressures
18:10exerted from abroad. And the patriots of the time were violently persecuted by the press of the oligarchy in Bogota, Valencia, Caracas, and in other cities. They were persecuted. Our forefathers, our liberator forefathers were persecuted.
18:35And all they did was give their lives in favor of the freedom of this land of founding republics. They were persecuted by lies, rumors, intrigues, divisionism, to be then
19:05betrayed, and for our dreams of a republic being betrayed. And then in Morocco, where a son killed his father.
19:35And in Morocco, our Cumaná hero was given three fatal shots. Our great Marshal of Sucre was killed. And he was killed by the oligarchy.
20:06General José María Obando was the one who killed him, and then he took refuge in Peru, having confessed to having prepared an ambush for Sucre, for the General Sucre, to kill him.
20:26But the masterminds were captured, taken to trial. They accepted their responsibility, and they were fire-squired at Bogota.
20:39But the one who organized and executed the order given by Juan Francisco Flores and by Francisco de Paula Santander, General José María Obando, he took refuge in Peru.
20:57And then he returned to Bogota, and in the 1850s, he founded Colombia's Liberal Party, and he became president in Colombia.
21:15They assaulted power, those who betrayed the liberators of America, to power in Colombia. And after they killed Sucre, they went after Bolívar, and they persecuted him until up to his last refuge in Santa Marta.
21:43Days before, the Congress had forbidden Bolívar to come into Venezuelan territory. How would you call that? That is treason. That is hatred.
22:05And they sent a message to the Bogota Congress, who was run by Santander, who also wrote a letter to Bolívar saying, Mr. Liberator, we don't know what to do with you.
22:26And they threatened to expel him from the land he had founded, which was Colombia. So groups' ambitions prevailed at the time, intrigues, division, and treason.
22:49It took 20 years for an Ezequiel Zamora to rise up and build a popular army and win some battles again.
23:04But when Zamora was headed to Caracas on times like these, in 1859, the ambush had already been put in place.
23:19And on January 10, 1860, one bullet, one coal trader's bullet, pierced the brain of the great general to end the freedom dreams of that generation.
23:40Half a century passed until what had to happen happened, like a lightning, a very bright light.
24:00And the skies of Venezuela were lit, and Bolívar returned. From the words and the actions of our Supreme Beloved Commander, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, and the Bolivarian 200 Movement, Bolívar returned. Zamora was back, as well as Simón Rodríguez.
24:27Their ideals were back, and their dreams. And we turned that into part of the Constitution, and a shared dream.
24:44A few days ago, we just celebrated with the people on the streets the 25 years of the birth of this Bolivarian Republic, of its Bolivarian Constitution, which is the result of lots of dialogues with the people and written by the people.
25:10It is the only Constitution in the history of this Republic made by the people and approved by the people. The same demoniacal force tried to kill this Constitution 23 years ago, when this Constitution was only two years old, like Herodes.
25:40In the Christian calendar, a day like this, we remember when King Herod ordered all two-year-olds, up to two-year-olds, being killed.
26:00Mary had to protect the newborn and take him into Egypt to save him. And that's what our people did on April 11, 2002, when they saw that an oligarch, Pedro Caramona, assaulted power and tried to do away with this Constitution.
26:29They tried to do away with this Constitution and with Bolivar's word. So the people, millions, in a perfect civic-military unit, like Mary and Joseph, they took to the streets to defend this two-year-old Constitution, and we saved it.
26:53And it's been 25 years since this Constitution has been cementing the future of our country. That's why it's so important to consolidate coherence between thoughts, words, and actions, and results.
27:23Military strategies, we have good military strategies and doctrines written by our Commander Chavez in his own handwriting.
27:40We have a theoretical basis and moral basis, and I insist on the leadership by example of all our officers, of all our military generals.
28:05From top positions to the lowest rank, who follow Bolivar's and Zamora's example. They follow their thoughts, their ideas, and they take that into permanent actions.
28:35This year we have 33 strategic operations carried out throughout the Venezuelan territory, and we have had 189 tactical deployments.
28:56And I could say that all these 33 strategic operations and 189 tactical deployments involved every force of the Bolivarian Army, along with the militias.
29:20And we can say that we have been victorious in preserving peace.
29:32Our combat against criminal gangs, drug traffickers from Colombia.
29:41Yesterday, the aviation detected an incursion by drug traffickers in the northwest, in the Falcón area, and they acted quickly and neutralized that incursion.
30:00Let's give them a strong round of applause to our aviation.
30:09They are also combating illegal mining in our national parks, in our rivers.
30:19They are combating criminal gangs like the Aragua train.
30:29Imperial instruments financed by the right-wing to try to control territories and vital states in the central western parts of Venezuela.
30:47We need to permanently patrol strategic objectives and vital objectives for the country, and to preserve our country from every threat, from every danger.
31:06Our Bolivarian Army, I can say with absolute certainty, 2024, our army has defeated evil forces and imperialism in our country.
31:28It's been a victorious year.
31:32This is the best tribute, the practical tribute, that we can offer to those who offer their lives for this republic.
31:52The next few years will be good for Venezuela.
32:02A few days ago, I signed an interior development military plan for the next few years.
32:14And we have to guarantee in every military unit with which we met a week ago, we have to guarantee with creative initiatives.
32:34And with great honor, we have to guarantee that the Bolivarian Army may develop the Ayacucho plan, step by step, for the 2025 to the 2030 period,
32:54which is part of the great transformations, the plan of the seven T's, seven transformations, that the National Assembly will be getting from my hands next January 10,
33:10which will become a law of the republic to continue advancing in every battleground.
33:20And you, as military professionals, in the art of war and strategies, we know very well how important it is to have a good strategy,
33:43to have a permanent initiative.
33:47You know how important that is to you all, generals, admirals, soldiers, that it's important to advance simultaneously, steadily, in every battleground,
34:05to cement the great national objective, which is to conquer times of prosperity and maximum social joy and development with our own resources.
34:24I underscore this.
34:26Soldiers, let's not expect anything from anyone but from ourselves.
34:33Every day, every minute, let's not expect anything.
34:38Let's not count on anything but ourselves.
34:41Either we come up with innovative solutions or we'll be defeated somehow.
34:55We have the force, we have the intelligence, we have the country, we have our dreams,
35:03and we can advance securing peace and building the bright future that's ahead for our country, coming from our own hands.
35:17We have lived through heroic years, and I can tell you, as Commander-in-Chief, I can tell you,
35:33I feel extremely proud of what all military men and women in Venezuela have done,
35:49so that we may have the right to have a homeland to live in, Venezuela to build our future,
35:55so that our homeland will not fall victim of oligarchy, of imperialism.
36:08Someday we will be able to write the whole story of all the battles that we have fought in recent years and in more recent times.
36:19But like Ali Primera said in his song,
36:36let us make history and let others write about it.
36:41So, this Bolivarian Army, under my command, together with the people, let's continue advancing for victory and honor.
36:54Happy New Year to all military men and women in Venezuela.
36:59Take a few days off. Long live the National Bolivarian Army.
37:09Chavez is alive. Independence and socialist homeland we shall overcome.
37:21And let's say, with Bolivar's strength, never again there will be any treason nor oligarchies in this country.
37:36Let's say from our hearts, with the strength of our heroes, lions forever.
37:47Lions forever. Long live the country. Forever of victory.
37:57God bless you all. Thank you so much.
38:05Participación de haber concluido el acto.
38:26The ceremony has concluded. Attention from shoulder arms.
38:41Chavez is alive. Independence.
38:48The sun of Venezuela rises in the Ezequiel.
38:52Never yield to traitors.
38:58My commander, I am informing you that the ceremony to close the year has ended.
39:09Thank you to all our military men and women.
39:11We have passed the December 28th Hudson trial.
39:23Congratulations to all. Honors to the national flag.
39:41Honor to the citizen Nicolas Maduro Moros.
40:05Honours to Nicolás Maduro-Moros, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
40:14Commander-in-Chief, Constitutional President of the Republic of Venezuela,
40:23and Commander-in-Chief of the Bolivarian Army.
40:28Attention, present arms.
41:05Attention, present arms.
41:15Attention, present arms.
41:25This ceremony has concluded.
41:29President Nicolás Maduro-Moros is withdrawn from the scene.
42:29This act of salutation to the Bolivarian Armed Forces...
43:00We were listening to the statements of the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro,
43:04during the end-of-year presentation act before the Bolivarian National Armed Forces.
43:08The President went over the heroic actions of the people of the region in their struggle against colonialism.
43:13President Maduro also stressed that the anti-imperialist and anti-fascist struggle of the people
43:18will continue until the final victory by the people,
43:21and that following the teachings of those that came before, the region would not know defeat.
43:26The President wishes all the military families of Venezuela a good New Year's Eve
43:31and more success in the coming year after all the victories that were achieved during the year 2024.
43:37These were the latest statements from Venezuela.
43:39Stay tuned with Treasurer Inglés for more in upcoming news briefs.