US sanctions have 'returned like boomerang,' affecting American, European economies: Venezuela's president

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - US sanctions have "returned like a boomerang," affecting the American and European economies, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro told Anadolu Agency.

In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency on Wednesday, Maduro said "it is very difficult" when he was asked about the possibility of the lifting of US sanctions against Venezuela.

"Because the US empire has always been caught up in its own aggression. Look at what is happening right now with Russia. All the sanctions imposed – more than a thousand economic sanctions against the Russian economy, agriculture, oil, and gas – have returned like a boomerang, and today they have returned against the European and American economies, which are creaking with galloping inflation, and they also affected the economies and economic rights of all the countries of the world."

Caracas made an "important contact" on March 5 with a delegation from the US government, and they maintained a fluid, permanent communication, Maduro said, adding Washington authorized American oil company Chevron, Italian Eni, and Spanish Repsol to move their investments in Venezuela to produce oil and gas for its natural market.

"They are small steps in the right direction. Let's have patience, patience, patience and keep working to get ahead with our own effort," he said. "And hopefully one day, the United States abandons its policy of aggression, of coercion, of sanctions."

- Venezuela's exclusion from Summit of Americas 'huge mistake'

On the exclusion of Venezuela from the Summit of the Americas organized by the Organization of American States, Maduro said that the exclusion of his country along with Nicaragua and Cuba, which he called "anti-imperialist countries in Latin America and the Caribbean," has been rejected by more than 25 governments across the region.

"This meeting of the Americas has been transformed into a meeting of the protest of the governments against exclusion and a lesson has been taught to the American empire that ... the time of the imperial orders is over," he said.

"And I would say that it was a huge mistake made by the country's administration to try to exclude our country," Maduro said, referring to Caracas' absence in Los Angeles.

He further said: "Unfortunately, that so-called Summit of the Americas gradually deteriorated from the political-diplomatic point of view. In these summits, no important issues are discussed, the priority issues of the peoples, the main problems we have."

"The US empire intends to reach these instances to give orders, believing that Latin America and the Caribbean are the backyard of the US empire. Those times have passed," he stressed.

Asked whether he plans to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is also in the Turkish capital Ankara for contacts, Maduro said he did not know that Lavrov is also in Ankara, but added: "If I can see him, I would be very happy. He is a great friend."