I wanted to take advantage of this event—the youth event—to send a message to the President of the United States, Donald Trump.

Yesterday, President Trump said he was a friend and partner of Venezuela. I welcome and applaud this view of Venezuela, because Venezuela has never been an enemy of the United States.

Venezuela has never been a country that threatens the United States or any other country on the planet.

Venezuela has always had a policy and a geopolitical vision of friendship and cooperation.

We got off to a very bad start on January 3 of this year when we were victims of military aggression by a nuclear power on this continent.

And why did that happen? Because for so many years, transnational media companies spread lies about our country, and for so many years, extremist sectors of Venezuelan politics spread lies about Venezuela and called for our country to be attacked and blockaded.

It is the national sentiment, President Trump, as friends, that we are opening a new agenda of cooperation with the United States.

End the sanctions now and end the blockade against our homeland. Because that blockade is also against the youth of Venezuela.

The youth of Venezuela as a whole are calling for an end to the sanctions, an end to the blockade against Venezuela.

I also want the world to know what we are experiencing right now in Venezuela, at an exceptional stage in our history. As I said, we are coming out of the terrible events of January 3, and it is up to us to rebuild through Bolivarian diplomacy of peace.

It is up to us to reconcile our differences. Our differences, let us not be afraid, are historical differences.

Two presidents agreed on the same thing: James Monroe and Simón Bolívar. And they had contradictions in their concept of the development of their countries.

Monroe had an expansionist vision, as you know, a vision of this continent for the United States, and Bolívar had an anti-imperialist vision, with a vision and a conception of deep respect for freedom, for independence, for sovereignty, for bringing freedom to the countries of Our America.

We can accept those contradictions with respect, with dignity. And what I ask of Venezuelan youth is that they never let their hearts be poisoned by extremism or fascism. Never let intolerance take hold of you. Let us recognize ourselves, despite our differences, as Venezuelans...

The idea that we’re going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight — there is no chance that will happen.

I think we all prefer the diplomatic option. But it really depends on what the Iranians do and what they say.

I do think we have to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past (Iraq).

I also think that we have to avoid overlearning the lessons of the past.

Just because one president screwed up a military conflict doesn’t mean we can never engage in military conflict again.

We’ve got to be careful about it, but I think the president is being careful.

I think Donald Trump is an "America First" President, and he pursues policies that work for the American people.

Anyone who wants to leave should do so today.

Focus on getting a seat to anyplace from which you can then continue travel to DC, but the first priority will be getting expeditiously out of the country.

There is no need to panic, but for those desiring to leave, it’s important to make plans to depart sooner rather than later.