Venezuela slams as ‘shameful’ US invocation of regional defense aid treaty against Caracas

The Venezuelan government has lambasted Washington for its “shameful” invocation of a Cold War-era regional defense treaty on behalf of the US-backed opposition in Caracas, a provocative move that paves the way for military intervention in the South American country.

Venezuela plunged into unprecedented political turmoil in January, when opposition figure Juan Guaido declared himself “interim president” of the country, rejecting the outcome of the May 2018 election, which President Nicolas Maduro won.

The highly controversial move received immediate recognition from Washington and soon after from a number of its allies.

The US-backed opposition accuses Maduro of “usurping power” and wants him to step down. Caracas rejects the allegation.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that Guaido’s request had invoked the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR) with 10 other Latin American countries to confront the “bellicose” moves by Maduro’s government, which “poses a threat to the Venezuelan people.”

Shortly after the release of Pompeo’s statement, Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza called the US move the “shameful heritage of neocolonialism in Latin America,” pointing out that the TIAR had been drafted “to legitimize military interventions in Latin America for ideological reasons” during the Cold War.

The Venezuelan top diplomat also denounced the “infamous imperial instrument” and “firmly reject[ed] the claims of this small group of countries that threaten the peace of integrity of Venezuela and the entire continent.”

The central principle of TIAR, which came into force in 1948, is that an attack against one of the member states is to be considered an attack against all of the signatories.

“It is painful that countries that were invaded by US troops and whose villages were massacred in the application of the TIAR today endorse a similar crime against a brother country,” Arreaza added.

PressTV-Venezuela's Guaido to be charged with 'high treason'

Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guaido faces charges of “high treason.”

A US military contingent has already been deployed to the impoverished South American nation of Guyana for the first time in a decade in a bid for the Pentagon to beef up its regional influence in neighboring Venezuela and undermine growing Chinese and Russian presence in the region.

Washington, which has imposed several rounds of harsh sanctions against Caracas, has been pressuring for a transition in part by setting up a representative office called Washington’s Venezuela Affairs Unit (VAU) based in Colombia to keep in touch with Guaido.

Venezuelans are suffering from a lack of basic necessities as a consequence of US sanctions. According to United Nations statistics, a quarter of Venezuela’s 30-million-strong population is in need of humanitarian aid.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk