President Nicolas Maduro called on Venezuelans to be part of the national debate around oil and gas prices. He told the right wing opposition to "put arrogance aside". Maduro confirmed that the new system for selling Venezuelan fuel will be defined by proposals from the Venezuelan people, after being discussed across the country. “The one setting the price here, from now on, of the whole commercialization system for nationally produced fuels, is the people of Venezuela, it’s organizations, the working class, communities, youth, women, intellectuals, and students,” said the president. Maduro said the new system will be “a system with a national conscience of the importance of the oil and gas industry of Venezuela, a system adapted to the current time, one that [eventually makes] all of the country’s energy economy sustainable”. The intention, Maduro added, is to redirect the income generated by the new system. It will reduce subsidized fuels in such a way that added national income from their sale would strengthen Venezuela’s growth by investing it in housing, education, health, sport and culture. Venezuela's stated owned PDVSA currently sells gasoline almost for free, the price not having increased over the last decade, despite inflation. A new tax system will also be discussed with the people, said the president. It will aim to stimulate the country’s development both socially and economically. “I call upon the congress of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV); I call on the communes, on the workers' councils, on all the types of people's power, to actively participate in the debate on the issues of the country’s new tax system. A tax revolution," he said. Source URL |
