Nicolás Maduro Says Stability of South America 'Depends on Venezuela,' Admits to Asking Sean Penn For Help

Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro insists that the stability of Venezuela "is the social and economic guarantee" for the entirety of South America. The Venezuelan leader also admitted that he asked actor Sean Penn to help spread his message in the United States. "Stability - and excuse me for saying this, in case someone in the world hears it and manipulates what I'm going to say - of South America, the Caribbean, even a good part of Central America depends on the stability of Venezuela."

In a meeting with local artists in a plaza in the center of Caracas, transmitted by state radio and television, Maduro revealed that last night, in a meeting with Penn, he expressed a similar sentiment and asked the actor to spread the word in the United States. Maduro insisted that if "they had defeated the Bolivarian Revolution in 2002, Petroccaribe would never have come into existence, which is the economic and social guarantee for eighteen countries."

Maduro continued saying "if the Revolution disappears and transnational corporations once again control our oil [we will soon see] poor countries starving, and the whole Caribbean take ship in search of the so-called American Dream." The leader also referred to the murder of a Chilean woman in the state of Merida as a result of violent encounters in the area saying "the murderers...will be capture and brought to justice to pay for the horrific crime they committed."