CARACAS, Aug 27: Venezuela has asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for support in the face of threats from the United States, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said.
This move comes amid escalating tensions with the US following its deployment of military assets in the Caribbean Sea, which it regards as “an attack on peace.”
Foreign Minister Yvan Gil confirmed that he met with Gianluca Rampolla, the UN Resident Coordinator in Venezuela, to address “the threats the region faces from the US.”
In a statement, Gil expressed concern over the deployment of US military units and even nuclear weapons in the Caribbean.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that Venezuela was mobilizing all of its national forces in response to what he described as a US threat to national and regional security.
“We have requested the support of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to restore common sense. In this context, we have expressed our concern about the deployment of US military units and even nuclear weapons in the Caribbean region, which undermines peace,” Gil said on Telegram on Tuesday.
He recalled that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) declared the region a peace zone back in 2014. The move was confirmed by the UN, but now Latin American countries are under threat from the US, the minister noted.
Gil also refuted the “false narratives” used as a pretext for aggression against Caracas, citing data from the World Drug Report, which confirms the absence of illegal crops in Venezuela and the efforts of the Bolivarian government to combat drug trafficking.
In February, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Washington was designating a host of drug cartels as global terrorist organizations. Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles was added to the list in late July.
On August 19, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that Trump was ready to use “every element of American power” to combat drug trafficking, without ruling out the possibility of a military operation in Venezuela. Later, news outlets reported, citing sources in the Trump administration, that Washington was deploying at least three warships carrying over 4,000 Marines and sailors to the waters off Latin America and the Caribbean to counter drug cartels.
Tensions between Washington and Caracas escalated in early August after US Attorney General Pam Bondi offered $50 million in reward for information leading to the capture of President Maduro, whom the US accuses of leading Cartel de los Soles.
(UNI)
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