Maduro asks not to accept electronic equipment as gifts

Nicolás Maduro recommended this Friday to members of his government and supporters not to accept electronic equipment as Christmas gifts, in reference to the explosions of beepers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon that left dozens of people dead. of dead.

“Do not accept electronic gifts (…) be careful with telephones, cell phones, be careful everyone,” said Maduro during an event in Caracas broadcast on mandatory radio and television.

Maduro, who “decreed” the beginning of Christmas on October 1, asked that “in all ministries, institutes and state companies” priority be given to the purchase of “handicrafts and toys made in Venezuela” for the exchange of gifts during “Venezuelan Christmas.”

His request comes amid a political crisis triggered by his re-election for a third consecutive six-year term (2025-2031) that the opposition calls fraudulent, claiming the victory of its candidate, former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, who has been in asylum in Spain since September 8.

Two waves of beeper and walkie-talkie explosions between Tuesday and Wednesday killed 37 people and wounded some 3,000 others in a bid to target members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk recalled on Friday that international law “prohibits” the use of “explosive” devices that appear to be “harmless” objects and considered “committing acts of violence intended to spread terror among the civilian population” to be a war crime.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib described the explosion of the communication devices as a “terrorist attack” before the United Nations Security Council, due to “its brutality.”.