Latin America rejects US military threat against Venezuela
CARACAS/LIMA: After months of attacking Venezuela’s unpopular President Nicolas Maduro, Latin America came out strongly against US threats of military action against the crisis-hit nation.
US President Donald Trump’s surprise comments may bring the beleaguered Maduro some respite in the region, just as Venezuela was on verge of becoming a pariah over its recent installation of a legislative superbody, widely condemned as a power grab by the ruling Socialists.
FollowingTrump’sassertionthat military intervention in Venezuela was an option, Maduro’s critics are caught between backing the idea of a foreign invasion of Venezuela or supporting a president they call a dictator.
The sudden escalation of Washington’s response to Venezuela’s crisis preceded US Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to the region beginning Sunday. He is set to visit Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Panama. Trump did not specify what type of options he had in mind.
Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino disparaged Trump’swarningas‘craziness’and Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said Venezuela rejected ‘hostile’ threats, calling on Latin America to unite against Washington.
“We want to express gratitude for all the expressions of solidarity and rejection of the use of force from governments around the
We want to express gratitude for all the expressions of solidarity and rejection of the use of force from governments around the world, including Latin America. Jorge Arreaza,Venezuelan Foreign Minister
world, including Latin America,” said Arreaza, in a short speech.
“Some of these countries have recently taken positions absolutely contrary to our sovereignty and independence but still have rejected the declarations of the US president.”
It was one of Maduro’s fiercest critics, Peru, that led the charge in criticising Trump’s threat, saying it was against United Nations principles.
Mexico and Colombia joined in with statements of their own.
Regional alliance Mercosur added that it rejected the use of force against Venezuela, despite having indefinitely suspended the country last week amid international condemnation of Maduro’s new, all-powerful ‘constituent Assembly’.
After four months of deadly protests against his government, Maduro says the assembly is Venezuela’s only hope of obtaining peace by locking in the socialist policies of his mentor and predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. Critics say the assembly is a bald manoeuvre by Maduro to cling to power as his popularity slumps under the weight of the country’s economic crisis. Peru expelled Venezuela’s ambassador in Lima, but that did not stop it from criticising Trump’s threat.
“All foreign or domestic threats to resort to force undermine the goal of reinstating democratic governance in Venezuela, as well as the principles enshrined in the UN charter,” said Peru’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Luna.
Peru under President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had taken the toughest stance yet toward Venezuela’s socialist government, and has openly called Maduro a ‘dictator’.
The new legislative superbody, which made waves last weekend by firing a dissident chief prosecutor, took new action on the country’s election timetable. It unanimously passed a resolution to move the country’s Dec 10 governors’ election up to October.
Assembly members said the decision was made in part because the election had been delayed due to ‘opposition-led violence.’ More than 120 people have died in unrest and antigovernment protests since April. — Reuters