Rio Pact Implies Use of Force, Not Solution to Venezuela Crisis - Uruguay Foreign Ministry

NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2019) The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR, or Rio Pact/Treaty) is a military pact that implies the use of force, which is not a solution to the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, Ariel Bergamino, Uruguay's deputy minister of foreign affairs, told Sputnik.

The TIAR, a regional defense treaty signed in 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, was invoked by members of the Organization of American States (OAS) earlier in September in response to the developments in Venezuela. On Monday, the countries of the TIAR agreed to introduce sanctions against organizations and individuals with ties to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government. Only Uruguay voted against the resolution, while Trinidad and Tobago abstained.

"You can not use the TIAR because it'a very very old treaty which supposes the use of force. That's not the solution," Bergamino said on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly. "There are other mechanisms. I mentioned two of them here."

Bergamino explained that, first, the OAS should have a more balanced senior secretariat, as it "should have played a better role in the Venezuela situation."

Secondly, the deputy foreign minister made a point to inquire why the TIAR, "which is a military treaty," was invoked rather than the 1948 American Treaty on Pacific Settlement, which obliges the signatories to settle their disputes through peaceful means.

"If we keep in this way, we are walking towards the use of force, and that's not the solution. We have to avoid that," he continued.

The deputy minister noted that while the situation in Venezuela was very, very difficult, the only way to resolve it was to engage in dialogue and to make an agreement between Venezuela's various political parties.

"You have to enforce and have to help, you have to create a good climate, a good environment for the dialogue," he said.

Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo told reporters after the Rio Pact meeting that "there was no discussion about military intervention in Venezuela" during the talks and that the participants only reviewed the draft resolution, which was eventually adopted.

Following the meeting between the TIAR member states, which was held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza sent a letter to Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia outlining the detrimental consequences that the Rio Pact decision could lead to.

Most of the large countries in the Americas are a part of the TIAR, including the United States, Brazil and Colombia. In 2012, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela withdrew from the agreement, saying that it was a tool for the United States and needed to be reformed.

The Rio Treaty was invoked by its member states to facilitate collective action to confront the alleged threat posed by Maduro's government. The move came as Caracas suspended talks with US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido after another round of US sanctions. At the same time, the Venezuelan authorities have announced the launch of a dialogue with a number of small opposition political parties in the country. Some agreements have already been achieved, like the return of members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela to the country's parliament, the release of prisoners and changes in the electoral process.