By Carlos Camacho.
Three of the top leaders of the Nicolas Maduro regime in Caracas –including Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and the head of the Constituent Assembly- vowed to avenge the death of Iran’s Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani, in yet another display of the strong alliance that exists between the two oil-rich countries.
National Assembly President Juan Guaido was quick to point out that, since the Bolivarian Revolution of Maduro and his predecessor and mentor Hugo Chavez began in 1999, alliances between Tehran and its Caracas partners have multiplied and grown, including direct dealings with Quds Force, a semi-independent and elite section of Iran’s armed forces similar to the SS in Nazi Germany, tasked mostly with terrorist operations abroad.
Soleimani was killed along with several Quds and Hezbollah collaborators in Bagdad on January 2rd, in a US drone attack that has been answered with renewed volleys of Iranian missiles against US bases, its Bagdad embassy and other interest in the region.
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“YOUR DEATH SHALL BE AVENGED, COMRADE!”
Pro-Maduro lawmaker Pedro Carreño was even filmed in video promising “tu Muerte será vengada, camarada!”, or “your death shall be avenged, comrade!”, while pointing his finger at a Soleimani portrait. Carreño made the ominous remarks after expressing his condolences to the Iranian ambassador in Caracas and signing the book of condolences the mission opened for visitors there.
The lawmaker was accompanied by Maduro’s number two man, Constituent Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, in their visit to the Iranian mission on January 7th. Cabello also joined in on Carreño’s sloganeering, although he made no personal promise to avenge the Quds commander’s death.
Wednesday afternoon, an official function to honor Soleimani was held at the Iranian Embassy with Maduro’s Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino, presiding and delivering a eulogy for Soleimani on behalf of the Armed Bolivarian National Forces (FANB by its acronym in Spanish).
Soleimani was, according to Padrino: “A man who taught through the virtue of humility, always being a moral example.”
