HAMILTON, Canada
Russia and China denounced on Friday the growing US military presence in the southern Caribbean, warning that Washington’s actions off the Venezuelan coast threaten regional peace and stability.
Speaking at an emergency session of the UN Security Council, Russia’s UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia said, “Venezuela, a sovereign state which for several months now has been subjected to unprecedented pressure and threats of military invasion.”
Saying that “the situation is becoming more acute” every day, he said that “just a few kilometers off the coast of that country, large-scale US military activity is taking place that is a direct threat to regional and international peace and security,” adding that “the total number of the military contingent is more than 4,000 people.”
“What is the preparation for an invasion?” Nebenzia asked, rejecting US claims of a “mythical cartel de los soles” allegedly trafficking drugs to the US. The cartel de los soles, or cartel of the sun, is an informal Venezuelan terror group that is allegedly headed by high-ranking members of the country’s military
“An excellent subject for a Hollywood blockbuster in which the Americans would once again save the world. But these assertions are not underpinned by facts at all,” he said.
He said Russia “condemns the strikes on civilian vessels as gross violations of international law and human rights,” adding that such actions “fall in line with the infamous theory of American exceptionalism, under which the US can do whatever it wants, and other countries can only do what the US allows them to do.”
Nebenzia warned that Washington “must immediately end the escalation under these trumped-up pretexts and not carry out an irreparable mistake … that could lead to serious regional destabilization.”
China’s UN envoy Fu Cong echoed those concerns, saying the US’ “unilateral and excessive enforcement operations against other countries’ vessels in so-called international waters infringe on relevant personnel’s right to life and other basic human rights.”
“They pose a threat to the freedom and security of navigation in relevant waters, and can potentially undermine a country’s freedom of the high seas enjoyed in accordance with the law,” Fu said.
He added that China “opposes any act that violates the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and other countries’ sovereignty and security,” and “urges the US to immediately cease relevant acts to avoid further escalation of the situation.”
US Political Counsellor John Kelley defended Washington’s actions, saying “the Trump administration is on the offensive against drug cartels and drug trafficking into the US.”
“We are going to put an end to the drug cartels that are flooding American streets with their product and killing Americans,” he said, reiterating the US’ stance against Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuela’s UN envoy, Samuel Moncada, called the US narrative “feet of clay,” describing it as “a disinformation campaign” that criminalizes Venezuelans.
“The US government is attacking Venezuelans within and outside US territory,” Moncada said, noting that “peace in the region is in grave danger on the basis of a fiction promoted by a war-mongering government eager to attack an entire nation and its people.”
He accused Washington of having “an addiction to oil,” saying it “is desperate to control all of the sources of oil around the world, and it believes that Venezuelan oil belongs to it.”
“The United States promotes endless war with a machine of propaganda and a true industry of death and lies,” Moncada said, vowing that “Venezuela will continue to win peace, exercising its full sovereignty and guaranteeing the right to life.”
