Venezuela’s Foreign Minister has called for the strengthening of multilateral institutions after a meeting with the UN Secretary General and a separate meeting with members of the Non Aligned Movement to drum up support for President Nicolas Maduro.
Jorge Arreaza again accused the United States of openly leading a coup d’etat against Caracas and warned that if President Donald Trump’s unilateral sanctions on the country were to continue, that the US leader would have blood on his hands.
Maduro says his country is the victim of an international assault led by the US, accusing Washington of acting like a neo-imperialist colonial dictatorship of the world.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Jorge Arreaza, says they will defend Venezuela’s truth.
“Enough is enough. Enough with the lies, we are here to defend the truth of Venezuela. We are a government made of human beings, a government which is flawed but a government and a revolution which enjoys very broad and peoples support. We have laws, we have institutions, we have five powers in Venezuela and the fact that the US would have a plan to intervene in Venezuela, that’s what it’s doing; it’s openly intervening, but even President Trump three or four days ago once again said we will not discard the possibility of using military force against Venezuela and then what happened with the UN Charter?”
The Maduro Government has denied there is a humanitarian crisis in the country despite acute shortages of food and medicine among other necessities. A convoy of trucks with aid supplies sent by the United States has been blocked from entering the country via the border with Colombia with Foreign Minister Arreaza laying the blame firmly Washington’s doorstep.
The US President earlier indicated military action was not off the table after they formally recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as Interim President.
“A government that is threatening you with the use of force, threatening you with an invasion, with a blockade, who gives orders to other countries for them to block you; do they really want to provide you with humanitarian aid? Let’s be serious, that would quite absurd. This is a hostile government that is killing you and then they want to help you out, that doesn’t make any sense. So let’s be consistent. If it’s a blockade on Venezuela, then you need to lift the sanctions because the UN Charter doesn’t give any legal authority to the US Government to impose coercive unilateral measures outside international law.”
In a tweet, US national security advisor John Bolton warned that nations and companies who support what he called Maduro’s theft of Venezuelan resources would not be forgotten. Arreaza believes the US administration is principally responsible for his country’s economic hardship.
“Suffering is something we’ve already seen because sanctions imposed on the US have already led to immense suffering and if it goes further, then Donald Trump’s hands would have blood on his hands. So that is why we want to avoid a coup d’etat to avoid any kind of intervention in Venezuela because it would only lead to an even worse situation and it would be a situation akin to what happened in Vietnam.”
Once again, the people of Venezuela have taken to the streets in support of a peaceful democratic transition to Interim President Juan Guaido. It is time for the Venezuelan military high command to stand alongside its people, not with Maduro’s Cuban patrons. pic.twitter.com/8KS7zZzfb2
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) February 13, 2019
The country’s chief diplomat said his government was open to dialogue with an opposition that was not taking instructions from Washington. Meanwhile, Guaido announced Tuesday that despite the military blockade, he would able to get some humanitarian aid into the country before the end of February.
