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In a statement released this Saturday on his official Telegram channel, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil directly responded to the words of Pope Leo XIV, who days earlier had expressed "concern" about the situation in Venezuela following the foreign military incursion that led to the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro.
The head of diplomacy in Caracas defended the dignity and "peaceful work" of his country, describing the operation as an "unprecedented international aggression" that, according to the Venezuelan government, violates national sovereignty and international law.
From that position, the chancellor went further and explicitly rejected the allegations that have circulated for months in international forums regarding the Venezuelan state's relationship with organized crime.
"Venezuela is not and has not been a narcotrafficking state," Gil asserted, claiming that this narrative has been debunked by concrete facts and that it became "even more exposed after the illegitimate and illegal attack" that allegedly left more than a hundred innocent civilians and military personnel dead, as well as the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The text directly links these accusations to a broader political offensive rather than factual evidence and accuses foreign sectors of ignoring the Venezuelan reality.
In his message, Gil also extended an invitation to Pope Leo XIV to, as he put it, get to know "this reality" more intimately and support Venezuelan believers from a more balanced understanding of the facts, defending "sovereignty, international law, and the dignity of peoples."
For his part, the pope, in his public address prior, called for “the well-being of the Venezuelan people to prevail” and urged respect for sovereignty, the rule of law, and human rights amid the complex wave of events facing the South American nation.
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