Maduro invites Huawei to set up 4G network in Venezuela

In this May 20, 2109 photo, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro flashes a hand-heart symbol to supporters outside Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela. Maduro said Thursday, May 23, 2019, that he is inviting China’s Huawei to help set up a 4G network in Venezuela, prompting opposition leader Juan Guaidó to accuse him of having an “absolute disconnection with reality.” AP

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is inviting China’s Huawei to help set up a 4G network in Venezuela, prompting opposition leader Juan Guaidó to accuse him of having an “absolute disconnection with reality.”

Guaidó said Friday that telecommunications problems were due to the “poor use of state resources and funds.”

Maduro said a day prior that he wants to make a joint investment with Huawei and other Chinese and Russian companies to improve infrastructure.

But he didn’t offer details about how such a project would work in a country gripped by hyperinflation and shortages of basic goods.

The United States calls Huawei a threat to national security and has put the company on a blacklist that effectively bars U.S. firms from selling it computer chips and other components without government approval.