The Obama administration is facing criticism across Latin America for leveling new sanctions against Venezuela and declaring the country an “unusual and extraordinary threat to national security.” On Saturday, foreign ministers of the 12-country Union of South American Nations called for a revocation of the sanctions. In a statement, the ministers said it “constitutes an interventionist threat to sovereignty and the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.”
On Thursday, U.S. policy in Venezuela was also questioned during a meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C. Representatives from Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and other nations all criticized the U.S. approach. In the clip below Democracy Now‘s Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman speak to Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño, who took part in the Organization of American States meeting yesterday.....Raging Bull-Shit
Ecuadorean Foreign Minister: The United States is the Real Threat in the Americas, Not Venezuela
Don Quijones
This is mostly just noise. Corrupt, authoritarian, and beholden to the drug cartels as the Maduro Government is, Venezuela is a threat to nobody.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as with almost all US foreign policy pronouncements, Obama's designation of Venezuela as a security threat has almost nothing to do with foreign policy per se. It actually has to do with horsetrading by the White House with Congress -- Obama gets to look tough on Venezuela, while continuing to work on relations with Cuba, and the Republicans back down a little on the debt "ceiling". Obama gets a tactical win, and Maduro gets to rant and rave impressively, while keep more than half the mayors of his country in jail and ruling by decree. Cynicism all round, by conservatives, liberals and pseudo-socialists alike.