Moscow yesterday warned Venezuela’s self-declared interim president Juan Guaido Guaido against “inviting foreign intervention” by using aid shipments as “cover,” and called for dialogue between the government and opposition.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was concerned about “threats from the US that are actively supported...by Venezuela’s opposition, essentially inviting foreign intervention.”
He said that “whether direct or under cover of humanitarian aid,” such an intervention is “unlikely to bring the result (Guaido) seeks.”
Venezuela’s military, which is backing President Nicolas Maduro, said it was on alert after Guaido vowed to bring aid into the struggling country, which Maduro slammed as a smokescreen for a US invasion.
US President Donald Trump has refused to rule out military action, warning the Venezuelan military that they will “lose everything.”
The commander of the US Southern Command warned the Venezuelan army that it will be “held accountable” for its actions.
“Do the right thing,” Craig Faller said on a video posted on Twitter by the television channel TV Venezuela Noticias yesterday. “Save your people and your country.”
Lavrov said US threats are “unquestionably a violation of the UN charter and direct meddling in domestic affairs of an independent country.”
He said he hoped that Guaido “would respond to initiatives that suggest inclusive dialogue between all of Venezuela’s political forces.”
“Results can only come from inclusive political dialogue,” he said.
Earlier Venezuela’s government said it had closed the country’s maritime border with the Dutch Caribbean islands due to the opposition’s plan to bring in humanitarian aid this Saturday to alleviate an economic crisis it denies exists.
Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said Venezuela’s relations with the islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire were under revision and the border closure would be in place for an “undefined period of time.”
“The fact that Curacao has decided to join this show, whose only aim is the takeover of Venezuela, means Venezuela has not only closed our border but also is revising our relations with these countries,” Rodriguez said in comments broadcast on state television.
Earlier, Guaido said the opposition was trying to freeze Swiss bank accounts held by Venezuelan officials after “irregular movements” were discovered.
Guaido told Mexican broadcaster Televisa he had discussed the matter with Swiss President Ueli Maurer on the phone. He said there had been attempts to “irregularly” move funds to private bank accounts, adding: “(We) are trying to freeze all those assets, which belong to the republic.”
Guaido, who is demanding that President Nicolas Maduro step down, has been trying to get control over Venezuelan assets abroad.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro gestures while posing with doctors of the 6th Graduation of Integral Community Medicine in Caracas, Venezuela.
