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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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30ene19
China, Russia condemn new round of US sanctions on Venezuela
The US announced harsh new sanctions against the administration of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday as part of an ongoing effort to put pressure on the embattled leader, prompting quick rebukes from Russia and China.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to “target Maduro and his corrupt cronies” with actions including blocking assets in the US owned or controlled by Venezuela’s state oil company. The Trump administration had recognized opposition figure Juan Guaido as acting president amid anti-Maduro demonstrations last week.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in response to the move that China maintains “Venezuelan affairs must and can only be chosen and decided by the Venezuelan people themselves.”
China, he stressed, “opposes unilateral sanctions.”
“Historical experience has proven, foreign interference or sanctions can only make situations more complicated and is not helpful in resolving the actual problems,” Geng said.
Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, decried the US acts as “brazenly violating all imaginable norms.”
“We are concerned about what the US and its closest allies are doing with respect to Venezuela, brazenly violating all imaginable norms of international law and actually openly pursuing the policy aimed at overthrowing the legitimate government in that Latin American country,” Lavrov said, as quoted by TASS news agency.
“According to our sources, the leaders of the opposition movement who have declared ‘dual power’ are in fact receiving instructions from Washington not to make any concessions until the authorities agree to abdicate in some way,” Lavrov said, in reference to Guaido.
“Together with other responsible members of the international community, we will do everything to support President Maduro’s legitimate government in upholding the Venezuelan constitution and employing methods to resolve the crisis that are within the constitutional framework,” he added.
Lavrov also made reference to news reports of an embarrassing error made by Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton, who flashed a notepad with the words “5,000 troops to Colombia” scrolled across the top in front of reporters.
Also written at the top of the notepad he was holding against his chest during a press briefing was an apparent reference to Afghan peace talks.
Trump administration officials have said military intervention is one option on the table for Venezuela, but Pentagon officials responding to The Washington Post said they had yet to receive orders to send troops to Colombia.
[Source: By Asia Times Staff, Asia Times, Bankok, 30Jan19]
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