The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, sent a letter to all the heads of State and government of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the countries that make up the United Nations (UN) system, to warn of “an escalation of extremely serious aggressions by the government of the United States.” Maduro emphasized that the effects of Washington's actions transcend Venezuela, threatening to destabilize the entire region and the international system as a whole.
From Caracas, the head of state called on governments around the world to explicitly condemn the acts of aggression, piracy, and extrajudicial executions committed by the United States, as well as to demand the immediate cessation of military deployment, the blockade, and armed attacks in the Caribbean. He also asked to activate the mechanisms of the multilateral system to investigate, sanction, and prevent the repetition of such facts.
Prohibition of the use of force
In his letter, the Bolivarian leader emphasized that Operation Southern Lance, activated by the US Department of Defense, constitutes a direct threat of the use of force, prohibited by article 2, number 4, of the UN Charter. Caracas asserted that these actions constitute, under international law, acts of piracy.
«That these actions are carried out by the armed forces of a State makes them even more serious, as they additionally constitute acts of aggression in accordance with UN General Assembly resolution 3314, violations of the 1958 High Seas Convention, ratified by Washington, which recognizes the exclusive jurisdiction of the flag State, direct attacks against the security of maritime navigation and international trade prohibited by the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation,» indicated the president in the note.
Historic tragedy
In his writing, Maduro appealed to history to warn that the inaction of the international community in the face of aggression and contempt for international law has devastating consequences. It also violates the Declaration of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed by all CELAC countries in 2014, and the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which designates the region as free of nuclear weapons.
«Venezuela has not committed any act that justifies this military intimidation,» stated the head of state in the text, which counted 28 armed attacks perpetrated by US forces in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific against civilian vessels.
Russia offers cooperation
Earlier, Foreign Minister Yván Gil reported that during a telephone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, the latter affirmed that the Kremlin will provide cooperation and support to Venezuela against the blockade imposed by the US government on the Caribbean country.
«I had a telephone conversation with the foreign minister of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, reaffirming the relationship of brotherhood, respect, and strategic cooperation that unites us,» Gil wrote on social media. He also indicated that in the conversation they reviewed the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law that have been committed in the Caribbean: attacks against vessels and extrajudicial executions and the illegal acts of piracy perpetrated by the US government.
Lavrov expressed the solidarity of Russia with the people of Venezuela and with President Maduro; he reaffirmed his full support in the face of hostilities coming from Washington, by stating that «this type of aggressions cannot be tolerated.» Likewise, Russia supports the actions undertaken by Venezuela within the UN Security Council, as the Chinese government already did last week.
The toll is 104 people extrajudicially executed, «many of them in a state of shipwreck,» denounced Maduro in the document read this Monday by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil. Venezuela accused these facts of violating the right to life, article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which oblige to protect civilians, the wounded, and shipwrecked at sea; and the Additional Protocol I of 1977, which imposes the absolute distinction between civilian population and combatant.
This, pointed out the Venezuelan president, demonstrates a systematic practice of lethal use of force outside any international legal framework and even the US Constitution itself.
Kidnapping and robbery nMaduro also denounced to the nations of the world that the United States committed the kidnapping and robbery at sea of two Venezuelan oil tankers, approximately 4 million barrels, in addition to decreeing a blockade against Venezuelan exports of the energy.
Disguised as pirates, dozens of motorcyclists yesterday protested in the streets of Caracas against the confiscation of Venezuelan oil tankers perpetrated by the US Coast Guard.
He pointed out that «the silence and passivity of the international community in the face of the rise of Nazism led to an unprecedented human tragedy: the Holocaust and a world war.» Today the logic is the same, he emphasized, «if the unilateral use of force, the execution of civilians, piracy, and the looting of resources from sovereign states are tolerated, the world is heading towards a scenario of global confrontation of unpredictable proportions.»
Venezuela reaffirmed its vocation for peace, while declaring that it is prepared to defend its sovereignty, its territorial integrity, and its resources in accordance with international law. Caracas warned that these aggressions will not only impact the South American country, as the blockade and piracy against Venezuelan energy trade will affect the global oil supply, increase the instability of international markets, and hit the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean and the world, especially in the most vulnerable countries.
«Defending Venezuela today is defending peace, international legality, and the world,» concluded Maduro's letter, dated Monday, December 22. The head of state considered that his counterpart Donald Trump «would do better in the world if he attended to the issues of his country.»
