In a piece by Barbados Advocate entitled “Stand up for What Is Right” (Sunday 10 March 2019), U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Julie Chung, states “the U.S. is looking to its CARICOM partners to be part of the international community that recognises Interim President Juan Guaido.” That is, Chung is asking CARICOM to break international law and recognise a self-proclaimed “interim president” that does not have legal leg to stand on (please read Article 233 of Venezuela’s constitution). Chung, on behalf of the Trump administration, is clearly violating most of the basic principles of international law and the UN Charter, which calls for non-intervention in the domestic affairs of sovereign nations.
Furthermore, since at least 2017 the U.S. repeated calls for a military coup and its constant threats of military aggression against Venezuela flagrantly violate international law as stipulated in the UN Charter, which specifically commits member States to refrain from “the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state” (Article 2). Behind Chung’s fake call for CARICOM to take the “side of humanity” lies the destructive financial and military might of the U.S. which is ready to pounce, this time against Venezuela, tomorrow against any government in the region, including the nations of CARICOM.
Only a few days ago U.S. National Security Advisor, John Bolton, stated unapologetically that he was intended to revive the Monroe Doctrine, through which, since 1823, the U.S. has invaded, occupied and destabilized the Latin American and Caribbean region on more than 160 occasions.
Regarding the so-called U.S. “humanitarian aid” to Venezuela, Chung states “the [Venezuelan] military security forces… attacked the people trying to get the aid or burned the trucks,” adding that “there is no bigger crime than burning up toilet paper and basic foods.”
The New York Times published “Footage Contradicts U.S. Claim That Maduro Burned Aid Convoy” (10/03/2019) with irrefutable evidence that “a Molotov cocktail thrown by an anti-government protester was the most likely trigger for the blaze.”
The piece adds that after being contacted by the NYT about these claims, U.S. officials released a more cautious statement about how the fire began: “Eyewitness accounts indicate that the fire started when Maduro’s forces violently blocked the entry of humanitarian assistance.” The NYT adds that this statement did not specify that “Mr. Maduro’s forces lit the fire.” Thus Chung’s bases to entice CARICOM to break international law by recognising the self-proclaimed ‘interim-president’ are false and her moral fury, fake. So is her concern about the alleged 3 million Venezuelans leaving the country, when in Colombia nearly 8 million have left and NOT ONCE has a U.S. spokesperson expressed concern about this or made a call for humanitarian aid. Furthermore, Trump’s response to the plight of Central
American migrants trying to reach the U.S. has been an unwelcoming wall, putting migrant children in cages and mobilizing the army to stop them at the border.
Little by little, the truth about the actual events that took place on Saturday 23rd of February at the Venezuela-Colombian border in Cúcuta is coming out: a brutal U.S.-led attack by paid hooligans, Colombian paramilitaries and even U.S. Marines (disguised as hooligans) who, supported, protected and escorted by the Colombian Police and Army, perpetrated a 15-hour aggression against the Venezuelan National Guard, which resulted in over 300 Venezuelan soldiers injured.
Its real objective was to push fake U.S. “humanitarian aid” across the border by military means to gain a beachhead through which U.S. military aggression could take place so as to violently oust the democratically elected government of Venezuela. It failed, so the U.S. seems to have gone for attacks on the country’s electricity system.
What the CARICOM nations understand is that if the U.S. objectives of ‘regime change’, destruction of Venezuela’s national sovereignty and brutal possession of its natural resources (such as the largest oil reserves in the planet) succeed, no nation in the hemisphere will be safe. All the U.S. has to do is identify a politician willing to be ‘interim anything’ followed by nasty and brutal U.S. multifaceted aggression.
This is why CARICOM will continue to uphold international law, support dialogue and oppose external interference in Venezuela – as Barbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM David Comissiong recently stated.
Alvaro Sanchez is the Venezuelan Charge D’Affaires to Barbados
