I absolutely support Trump’s strategy, and we the Venezuelan people are very grateful to him and to his administration.

I believe he is a champion of freedom in this hemisphere.

That’s why — and I say this from Oslo right now — I have dedicated this award to him.

He finally has put Venezuela where it should be in terms of a priority for the United States’ national security.

We are facing not a conventional dictatorship. This is a very complex criminal structure that has turned Venezuela into a safe haven of international crime and terrorist activities, starting with Russia, Iran, Cuba, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Colombian guerrilla, and drug cartels operating freely and directed in partnership with Maduro and his regime.

The resources Maduro gets are not going to schools or hospitals. In Venezuela, a teacher earns one dollar a day. Pensions are less than one dollar a month. Our children go twice a week to school.

The cash the regime gets from these illegal activities goes to buy arms, to pay gang members, to spy and infiltrate, and to further increase their illegal narcotics activities.

These resources are not going towards the people — they’re going for corruption and crime.

This whole idea of people talking about a risk of a civil war — whoever says that — has no idea at all about what Venezuela is.

I mean, we are certainly the most cohesive society in the region — I would dare to say perhaps in the world.

Venezuelan society has no religious, social, regional, or racial confrontations or tensions in the country.

Putin wants the world to think that Russia will shore up the regime, and especially wants Trump to think that.

But do you think Putin has resources to spare right now, or does he have something more urgent to invest those resources in?

Helping a regime that is going to fall apart anyway, regardless of what he does, is not a priority for him.

The meeting in Berlin between President Zelensky, Special Envoy Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and delegations from the United States and Ukraine lasted over five hours.

Representatives held in-depth discussions regarding the 20-point plan for peace, economic agendas, and more.

A lot of progress was made, and they will meet again tomorrow morning.