FLASHBACK: What captured Venezuelan President told Daily Trust about US in 2006

On January 3, 2026, the world woke to the news that President Nichola Maduro of Venezuela had been captured by US elite forces who invaded his country.

This followed bitter exchanges and rivalry with President Donald Trump, who had accused his Venezuelan counterpart of financing terrorists and having ties to drug cartel. Maduro had denied the allegation, saying Trump had his eyes on Venezuela’s oil.

Maduro, who is being tried in a New York court, was charged alongside his wife, his son, and three others.

The charges are the same as those in an earlier indictment brought against him in a Manhattan federal court in 2020, during the first term of Trump.

Maduro, who was a  powerful member in the cabinet of the late President Hugo Chavez, his predecessor,    led a delegation of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to a summit at Nigeria’s capital city in 2006.

In an interview with Daily Trust back then, he had called for the establishment of functional institutions to foster integration between Africa and South America.

Maduro, who was the foreign minister, had said to bring financial autonomy to the two regions, there would be urgent need to establish bank of Africa and South America.

He said such further measures would also go to the energy sector in order to recover full control of it and added that a University of the South and television station of the South respectively, would strengthen cooperation in education and communication areas that are vital for the integration.

Mr. Maduro had described the summit as having laid out the basic concept for the integration of the two regions that were faced with similar challenges to fight against poverty and accelerate social and economic development.

According to him, the Africa-South America Cooperation Forum which was established in the aftermath of the historic summit as permanent mechanism for the constant interactions of the two regions was a great leap forward.

On the relationship between Venezuela and the United States, he had denied any suggestion that his country was in conflict with United States, but said that the US was in conflict with the whole world, adding that his country had already taken a “principled stance against the hegemonic ambition of the Washington elites”.

He said his country’s affirmation of the historic significance of the summit accounted for her determination to host the second summit in Caracas in 2008.

Mr. Maduro called on his fellow summiteers to be on their guard as forces that are historically opposed to the south-south solidarity and co-operation would attempt to derail the fresh effort being built through the Co-operative Forum.

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