STATEMENT BY THE REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT. IT IS IMPERATIVE TO HALT THE IMPERIALIST MILITARY ADVENTURE AGAINST VENEZUELA
The
Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba condemns the
escalation of pressures and actions of the US government in preparation
for a military adventure under the guise of a “humanitarian
intervention” in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and calls on the
international community to mobilize in order to prevent its
consummation.
Between
February 6 and 10 of 2019, several military transport aircraft have
been flying to the Rafael Miranda Airport in Puerto Rico; the San Isidro
Air Base in the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean Islands that
have a strategic location, most certainly without the knowledge of the
governments of those nations. These flights took off from US military
facilities from where Special Operation Troops and US Marine Corps units
operate. These units have been used for covert operations, even against
leaders of other countries.
Media
and political circles, even in the US, have revealed that extremist
figures of that government with a long history of actions and slanders
aimed at causing or instigating wars, such as John Bolton, US National
Security Advisor; and Mauricio Claver-Carone, Director of the National
Security Council’s Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, counting on the
connivance of Marco Rubio, Senator of the anti-Cuban mafia of Florida,
designed, directly and thoroughly organized and obtained the funds, from
their posts in Washington, for the attempted coup d’ etat in Venezuela
by means of the illegal self-proclamation of a president.
They
are the same who, either personally or through the State Department,
have been putting brutal pressures on numerous governments to force them
to support the arbitrary call for new presidential elections in
Venezuela, while promoting recognition for the usurper who hardly earned
97 000 votes as a parliamentarian, against the more than 6 million
Venezuelans who elected Constitutional President Nicolás Maduro Moros
last May.
After
the resistance put up by the Bolivarian and Chavista people against the
coup, evidenced by the mass demonstrations in support of President
Maduro and the loyalty of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces, the US
Government has intensified its international political and media
campaign and strengthened unilateral economic coercive measures against
Venezuela, among them the blocking of Venezuelan funds in third
countries banks, which are billions of dollars worth; and the theft of
the oil revenues of that sister nation, which are causing grave
humanitarian damages and harsh deprivations to its people.
In
addition to this cruel and unjustifiable plunder, the US intends to
fabricate a humanitarian pretext in order to launch a military
aggression against Venezuela and is seeking to introduce in the
territory of that sovereign nation, by resorting to intimidation,
pressures and force, an alleged humanitarian aid which is one thousand
times inferior as compared to the economic damages provoked by the siege
imposed from Washington.
The
usurper and self-proclaimed “president” shamelessly announced his
disposition to call for a US military intervention under the pretext of
receiving the aforementioned “humanitarian aid”; and has described the
sovereign and proud rejection of that maneuver as a “crime against
humanity”.
US
high officials have been arrogantly and blatantly reminding us all, day
after day, that when it comes to Venezuela, “all options are on the
table, including military action”.
In
the process of fabricating pretexts, the US government has resorted to
deception and slanders, for it presented a draft resolution at the UN
Security Council which, cynically and hypocritically expresses deep
concern about “the human rights and humanitarian situation..., the
recent attempts to block the delivery of humanitarian aid, the millions
of Venezuelan refugees and migrants…, the excessive use of force against
peaceful protesters, the breakdown of regional peace and security” in
Venezuela, and urges “to take the necessary steps”.
It
is obvious that the United States is paving the way to forcibly
establish “a humanitarian corridor” under “international supervision”,
invoke “the obligation to protect” civilians and take “all necessary
steps”.
It
is worth recalling that similar behaviors and pretexts were resorted to
by the US during the prelude to the wars it launched against
Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya, which resulted in tremendous human losses
and caused enormous suffering.
The
US government attempts to remove the biggest obstacle -the Bolivarian
and Chavista Revolution- to the imperialist domination of Our America
and deprive the Venezuelan people from the largest certified oil reserve
of the planet and numerous strategic natural resources.
It
would be impossible to forget the sad and painful history of US
military interventions perpetrated more than once in Mexico, Nicaragua,
the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Honduras, and most recently Grenada
and Panama.
As
was warned by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz on July 14, 2017: “The
aggression and coup violence against Venezuela harm all of “Our America”
and only benefit the interests of those set on dividing us in order to
exercise their control over our peoples, unconcerned about causing
conflicts of incalculable consequences in this region, like those we are
seeing in different parts of the world”.
History
will severely judge a new imperialist military intervention in the
region and the complicity of those who might irresponsibly support it.
What
is at stake today in Venezuela is the sovereignty and dignity of Latin
America and the Caribbean and the peoples of the South. Equally at stake
is the survival of the rules of International Law and the UN Charter.
What is being defined today is whether the legitimacy of a government
emanates from the express and sovereign will of its people or from the
recognition of foreign powers.
The
Revolutionary Government calls for an international mobilization in
defense of peace in Venezuela and the region, based on the principles
enshrined in the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a
Zone of Peace, which was adopted by the Heads of State and Government of
CELAC in 2014.
It
likewise welcomes and supports the Montevideo Mechanism, an initiative
promoted by Mexico, Uruguay, the Caribbean Commonwealth (CARICOM) and
Bolivia, which seeks to preserve peace in Venezuela based on the
principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of States, legal
equality of States and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, as stated
in its recent Declaration.
It
welcomes the positive consideration given to said initiative by
President Maduro Moros and the international community and expresses its
concern about the categorical rejection by the US government of the
initiatives of dialogue promoted by several countries, including this.
The
Revolutionary Government reiterates its firm and unwavering solidarity
with Constitutional President Nicolás Maduro Moros, the Bolivarian and
Chavista Revolution and the civic and military unity of its people and
calls upon all peoples and governments of the world to defend Peace and
put up a joint opposition, over and above political or ideological
differences, to a new military and imperialist intervention in Latin
America and the Caribbean which will harm the independence, sovereignty
and interests of all peoples from Rio Bravo to Patagonia.
Havana, February 12, 2019.
