The Cuban government reaffirmed this Sunday its “deep respect” for the Venezuelan administration of Nicolás Maduro, during the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting held in Caracas.
The island’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, who represented Havana at the meeting, said in a message on his Twitter account that at the meeting he had ratified “Cuba’s deep respect for the government of Venezuela and the will of the Venezuelan people.”
In addition, he called for ceasing “U.S. interference” in Latin America, at a time when U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was visiting several Latin American countries “vociferating lies, and dictating what must be done in Venezuela.”
En reunión #MNOAL ratificamos profundo respeto de #Cuba al gobierno de #Venezuela y a la voluntad de los venezolanos. Mientras Sec. de Estado #EEUU visitaba la región vociferando mentiras, y dictando que debe hacerse en Vzla. Cese la injerencia imperialista en #NuestraAmérica.
— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) July 21, 2019
Pompeo is on a tour of the region, which includes Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico and El Salvador, and in which Venezuela is one of the topics on his agenda.
Later, Rodríguez said that it was not possible “under the conditions of today’s world” to promote international, hemispheric or regional peace and security “without defending at all costs the right to peace” of the Venezuelan nation, the island’s main ally in the region.
His tweets coincide with Havana’s official position at the NAM meeting in Caracas, where the Cuban foreign minister considered that “unilateral coercive measures” in addition to being “arbitrary and illegal,” also “cause serious humanitarian consequences wherever they are applied.”
No es posible en las condiciones del mundo actual promover la paz y la seguridad internacionales, hemisféricas o regionales, sin defender a toda costa el derecho a la paz de la República Bolivariana de #Venezuela#MnoalConsolidaLaPaz pic.twitter.com/8BBw8YKV62
— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) July 22, 2019
These statements were made on the final day of the meeting, when the NAM member countries called for promoting the use of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to denounce the illegality of economic and political sanctions imposed by other States.
The participants in the meeting, which aimed to prepare the bloc’s summit that will take place next October in Baku, Azerbaijan, signed the “Political Declaration of Caracas,” a twelve-point document that underlines the adherence of its members to “the principles of international law.”
The document urges the members of the group to make greater use of the ICJ, the highest judicial organ of the United Nations, to request its opinion in “cases where unilateral coercive measures, which are taken in violation of international law, can undermine international peace and security.”
The members of the NAM ratified “their firm commitment to the fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” and therefore reiterated their obligation to “prevent and suppress the financing of terrorist acts” as well as “refrain from providing any form of support.”
The event also served to ratify the support of the NAM members to the Venezuelan ruler, Nicolás Maduro, who is not recognized by more than 50 countries that consider the conditions under which the presidential elections of May 2018 were held as illegitimate.
This meeting’s declaration included the promotion and support of the dialogue between the Venezuelan government and opposition initiated in Oslo, as well as highlighting the role of the UN secretary, the Holy See and other actors in solving the Venezuelan crisis.
EFE / OnCuba
