The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, released on Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, a Christian holiday, a message in which he appeals for unity of the Venezuelan people and thanks, from the United States, where he is imprisoned, for the support received.
“Coherent action is born from this faith that demonstrates its values in daily practice: in living solidarity, in the love among all, in helping those who suffer, in respect, in service and the common good. And above all, in UNION, to consolidate our path as a country blessed by the Holy Spirit,” Maduro posted on his social media account.
The Venezuelan leader addresses the “beloved people of Venezuela” in his own name and on behalf of his wife, Cilia Flores, to send them “an embrace of faith, love and gratitude.”
The message includes two quotations from the Gospel of Matthew that urge faith and not to doubt. “If two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them,” he noted.
Maduro calls for “peace, for prosperity and for the freedom of all of us.” “May the Holy Spirit blow over Venezuela and over the peoples of the world; may it grant us wisdom to act, humility to reconcile, and strength to move forward. Cilia and I are grateful for so much support, so many prayers and so much solidarity. We are always with you,” he concludes the message, which he signs as “constitutional president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
Maduro was captured together with Cilia Flores on January 3, during a United States military incursion that left more than a hundred dead, after which the president and the first lady were transferred and incarcerated in New York. Both declared themselves innocent of the charges brought against them in the case, related to alleged drug trafficking activities and conspiracy to introduce cocaine into the country.
