Alwaght-Latin American countries
refuse the sanctions proposed by the US against Venezuela.
Roberta Jacobson, US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs,
was surprised that not much of the Latin American countries defended the U.S.
sanctions against Venezuela. The U.S. sub-secretary for Latin America admitted
that she was “disappointed” by the reactions of the Latin American countries to
the sanctions and the “national security threat” decree recently adopted by
Washington against Venezuela.
In a
conference held at the Brookings Institute where
the next Summit of the Americas to take place in Panama City Next week was the
central topic, Jacobson described the support of Latin American countries to
Venezuela as an exercise of rhetoric.
“Words
matter, and words matter to populations, and words matter in foreign policy,
and when you say that things go easier with Marxist Governments than with
Populist ones, I don’t know if that’s a general rule, but I would say that the
tone that leaders set, is important and right now, the tone that the leaders
set in popular countries is demonizing the United States as the source of their
problems and in particular in Venezuela when we are not the source of their
problem” Jacobson added when asked about the issues of the Summit.
“I will
confess, disappointed that there weren’t more who defended the fact that
literally this was not intended to hurt the Venezuelan people or the Venezuelan
Government even as a whole, and did not clearly explained or elucidate as we
did for them in advance, because we did talk to the government in advance of
the sanctions that this was really very targeted” Jacobson said.
Jacobson
insisted that the US does not intend to discuss Venezuela at the Summit, since
the summit is a regional discussion and the idea is not to have a discussion on
any one country.
Tensions
between the two countries have increased since last March after the White House
signed an executive order in which the Venezuelan nations represents an
“unusual and extraordinary threat” to the US.
Even though
Jacobson insisted that the US will not discuss the Venezuelan issue in the
Summit, the mounting hostility from the U.S towards Venezuela is likely to be
one of the most hotly debated themes at the Summit, due to take place in Panama
later this month. The US President Barack Obama is expected to attend. Many
high profile Latin Americans have come out in support of the democratically
elected government of President Nicolas Maduro, including former Uruguayan
president, Jose Mujica, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu.
The 33
member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
(CELAC) expressed their rejection of the decree issued by the United States
President, Barack Obama, against Venezuela, and deemed necessary its complete
annulment.
Once
again US sanctions proved to be a futile solution to any diplomatic issue as
occurred previously with the sanctions on Iran. And despite wide rejection of
its foolish stance, the US still refuses to go to its room to think about what
it’s done.
