(THE XTREME SUN) – The United States of America will not get any support from this country in a military invasion of Venezuela to oust President Nicolas Maduro and his government.
Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves made this country’s position clear during an interview by Dwight ‘Bing’ Joseph on the ‘OMG In The Morning’ interactive programme on BOOM FM on Tuesday morning.
He was responding to the question of a possible US-invasion with support from some Caricom governments in wake of a recent meeting to which US President Donald Trump invited a selected few Caricom leaders.
“St Vincent and the Grenadines will be entirely opposed to an invasion; for the simple reason, Article 2 paragraph 4 of the Charter of the United Nations makes it plain that you can’t threaten or use force against another country,” Dr Gonsalves stated.
Prime Minister Gonsalves said there are only two exceptions in the charter: “1. If you’re doing so for self-defense – and clearly, there is no issue of aggression by Venezuela against the United States here – or, secondly, if it is a situation adjudged by the Security Council to be so serious that it requires a response through the Security Council for an intervention.”
Dr Gonsalves said that, having tried before, the US is not going to the Security Council because the Venezuela situation does not measure up to a global security threat and they won’t get the support of the Security Council.
The talk show host raised the matter of allegations that Russia has sent troops to assist Venezuela but Dr Gonsalves replied: “I hear all kinds of things but I hear a lot of fake news. There is no evidence that that has happened.”
He said that in the same way the local laws are expected to protect citizens of this country, so too should the international law protect nations from bullying by more powerful nations.
“In the same way that what saves us, you and me and others in this community, is not to have a strong and powerful man, more powerful than you and I, come and bully us and beat up on us and we have no recourse to law.
“We have the law here; we have the courts to defend us. There’s a thing called international law. And this is the problem, there are some states, because of some fear – people can’t live by fear. You have to be practical, you have to be pragmatic, but you assert your principles. How could it, in Heaven’s name, be in the interest of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to have a military invasion in Venezuela?”
He noted that Canada and Europe also oppose a military intervention in Venezuela.
