Caracas Says Rio Pact Invocation Proves US Underestimating Venezuelan Political Dialogue

Caracas Says Rio Pact Invocation Proves US Underestimating Venezuelan Political Dialogue

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has slammed the US-led decision to invoke a regional defense pact against Caracas as warmongering and underestimation of the ongoing political dialogue in the Bolivarian republic

BUENOS AIRES (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2019) Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has slammed the US-led decision to invoke a regional defense pact against Caracas as warmongering and underestimation of the ongoing political dialogue in the Bolivarian republic.

On Tuesday, the US Department of State said that Washington and its allies in the Western hemisphere had invoked the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR) to facilitate "further collective action to confront the threat posed by the former regime of Nicolas Maduro to the Venezuelan people and to the region." The move came as Caracas suspended talks with US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido after another round of Washington's sanctions but launched a dialogue with a number of other opposition political parties.

"US Govt shows its warmongering nature again by underestimating the political dialogue process sovereignly developed in Vzla. Peace & understanding are bad news for Trump' administration," Arreaza wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

According to the minister, the move makes the United States the "main author" of the threat of use against Caracas, a sovereign nation, which runs counter to the international law.

"Through this communiqué, Washington not only attacks the National Roundtable but also assumes to be the main author of the threat of violence use against Vzla, openly violating the UN Charter by evoking the TIAR," he added.

The TIAR agreement, commonly known as the Rio Pact, was signed in Rio de Janeiro by the majority of countries of the Americas in 1947. In essence, this is a mutual defense treaty, since its main principle states that an attack on any country among the signatories will mean an attack on all participating countries. Venezuela and other member nations of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America left the treaty in 2012.

Venezuela faces the US-led effort to oust the government of Maduro and replace him with self-proclaimed president Guaido. The United States has imposed comprehensive sanctions against Venezuela and frozen some of the country's assets.