'A bad joke': Latin American gov'ts back Venezuela, slam new US sanctions

March 10, 2015
Issue 
Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Bolivia's Evo Morales, who have condemned the latest US attacks on Venezuela.

Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) secretary-general Ernesto Samper, said on March 9 that the regional bloc offered total support to the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after the US government’s declaration of Venezuela as a national security threat.

US President Barack Obama has issued a decree listing Venezuela as a “national security emergency” for the US, citing alleged human rights abuses and corruption. The US has also imposed extra sanctions on several Venezuelan officials.

Samper said that the bloc rejects “any attempt at internal or external interference that attempts to disrupt the democratic process in Venezuela”.

His statements follow a visit by a delegation from UNASUR, which unites 12 South American nations. UNASUR officials met with members of the government and the US-backed right-wing opposition.

The nations that make up the Boliviarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) anti-imperialist political and trade bloc added its voice on March 10 to the growing chorus rejecting the new US measures against Venezuela.

In a statement, the 12 members of the ALBA group of Latin American and Caribbean nations opposed “any aggression or attempt to undermine the peace, democracy and sovereignty of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”.

The bloc said the measures implemented by the US — both the sanctions against Venezuelan officials and the executive order — go against the principles of international law.

The Latin American Parliament has also condemned the latest US attacks. It approved a resolution rejecting of the US actions and in support of UNASUR's efforts to end the political standoff between the Venezuelan government and opposition.

The head of the Venezuelan delegation to the parliament, Angel Rodriguez, denounced the latest US measure as an act of interference against his country.

“They are trying to generate support in public opinion to justify the critics, the sanctions, the economic warfare, even an armed intervention,” Rodriguez said.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, whose government is part of ALBA and UNASUR, blasted the US government in a March 10 Facebook post.

He said: “An executive order by Obama declaring Venezuela a national security threat and declaring a national emergency to face this threat … It must be a bad joke, which reminds us of the darkest hours of our America, when we received invasions and dictatorships imposed by imperialism…

“Will they understand that Latin America has changed?”

Bolivia's President Evo Morales said the regional blocs of UNASUR and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC — which includes all nations in the Americas except the US and Canada) should immediately hold an “emergency meeting” to respond to the US aggression.

Morales said the US sanctions pose a threat to “all of Latin America and the Caribbean”.

“We condemn, we repudiate, in the 21st Century we won’t accept this kind of intervention by the United States,” Morales said. “All of our solidarity and our support goes to President Maduro, and the revolutionary Bolivarian government and people of Venezuela.”

Correa confirmed on March 10 that the foreign ministers from UNASUR nations would meet on March 12 to discuss US interference in Venezuelan affairs.

[Compiled from TeleSUR English.]

ALBA statement (unofficial translation)

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) group of countries expresses its utmost rejection of the “Executive Order” issued by the United States President Barack Obama, on March 9, 2015, in which the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is categorized as an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to national security and U.S. foreign policy.

This constitutes an unprecedented aggression against that country and thus our region.

This aggression violates every principle of international law which governs relationships between states, treating every state as equal and sovereign.

It also undermines the historic anti-imperialist struggle claimed by our people, and threatens the peace and tranquility of our countries.

The ALBA member states reject emphatically every aggression and attempt to undermine the peace, democracy and sovereignty of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and we urge the US government to respect the right to self-determination of the people and the non-interference in internal affairs, in accordance to international law and the spirit of freedom and independence.

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