00:00You raised Venezuela. That, of course, is part of the new so-called Don Roe Doctrine,
00:03where we are seeing this Trump administration, this U.S. government, perhaps the most involved
00:07in Latin America that we've seen in decades. Is that necessarily a good thing?
00:12I think it's great.
00:13You have no reservations about that.
00:15Absolutely. I fully support. I think this is something that we have been aiming for a very long time.
00:21We have a long history of good relations with the U.S., regardless of who was the president,
00:26and what party they were representing. But the reality is that always we have a closer relation
00:31with a Republican government rather than Democrats.
00:35So this time, Trump came with a different approach, much faster on deciding on things
00:42and paying a lot of attention to the Western sphere.
00:44So when the new national security strategy came out and they started talking about revitalizing
00:50the Monroe Doctrine, I think it's a good idea.
00:53I mean, it's not that we're going to be the same countries that we were 200 years ago.
00:58We are completely different.
00:59And the type of partnership that we have built is different now, is stronger,
01:03and we see each other as an ally.
01:05So it's not that the U.S. will colonize the countries in the Western sphere.
01:11So I really appreciate that they are paying more attention.
01:13I think that there are so many things that we could do.
01:16And in the case of Paraguay, of course, we are the only country in South America
01:20that still have a relation with Taiwan. So this is not a minor issue when they think
01:25about the influence of China in the Western sphere.
01:28I do want to ask you about Taiwan, but if we could stick with Venezuela for just a moment longer.
01:32Do you see Latin America as now being safer, more stable after the capture and arrest of
01:37Nicolas Maduro? And how do we guarantee that that is something that can last?
01:41Is Delce Rodriguez the person who can complete that job?
01:45We need to work around on this, and it's going to take time, and Paraguay knows very well
01:49that Paraguay had the longest dictatorship in South America, 35 years of a military regime
01:54that ended in 1989. So the transition after the military regime, it took around four years.
02:01A transition government, a new constitution, an election, and after four years,
02:06we can resume on democratic terms. So this is not something that you're going to solve
02:11in eight weeks, because it has happened only eight weeks since the removal of Nicolas Maduro.
02:17Of course, we don't like this as the first choice, but it's the second best. We push for democratic
02:24elections through the elections that happened in 2024. They did not respect the results,
02:31so there was no other option. So dictators, they don't go with pamphlets and manifestations
02:35on the street. They usually go with bullets. Until there are democratic elections, are there
02:40opportunities for Paraguay and Venezuela in terms of your relationship and economic relationship
02:45in the interim, or do you need to wait to see that happen? I think for us, it's not a
02:50matter of
02:52a lot of pressure. We don't have a lot of pressure. Paraguay is an economy that is growing.
02:56It's actually the fastest growing economy in South America for three years already, so we're doing
03:01really, really, really good. We are exporting and doing trade with many, many countries.
03:06We have a lot to offer, but we don't depend on accessing the Venezuelan market. I think that
03:12now the challenge is how to stabilize on the ground, particularly freeing all the political
03:18people that is imprisoned, allowing Venezuelans to return to Venezuela. And with the situation more
03:24stable, I think the most important thing is letting the people of Venezuela to choose who's going to be
03:30depressive. And that's going to be, it's going to take some time. Do you have an idea of how long?
03:35If I give you my own experience in Paraguay, it took around three to four years, so I hope that
03:41it could be sooner, but it's going to be around that time.
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