UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th September, 2019) An invocation of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR, or Rio Pact/Treaty) will not prompt a military intervention in Venezuela, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Ventura Robles told Sputnik.
"No. I don't think," Robles said when asked whether the pact could provoke a military involvement. "We are against it any way."
TIAR, a regional defense treaty signed in 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, was invoked by the United States and its allies earlier in September to facilitate further collective action to confront the alleged threat posed by Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro's government. On Monday, TIAR signatories agreed to introduce sanctions against entities and individuals linked to the Venezuelan president. Only Uruguay voted against the resolution, while Trinidad and Tobago abstained.
"We are in favor of the Rio Treaty resolution," Robles said. "It is against the leaders of the government. All the measures are against the leaders of the government."
Uruguayan Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa told Sputnik on Tuesday that Montevideo will leave the TIAR, also due to an "obvious attempt" by the other signatories to use it to threaten Venezuela with use of force.
Montevideo earlier threatened to leave the pact if military action against Caracas was approved. Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo, however, told reporters after the Rio Pact meeting that "there was no discussion about military intervention in Venezuela" during the talks.
Venezuela faces the US-led effort to oust the government of Maduro and replace him with self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido. The United States has imposed comprehensive sanctions against Venezuela and frozen some of the country's assets. Maduro has accused Guaido and Washington of collaborating to orchestrate a coup to take control of Venezuela's resources.
