US-Proclaimed ‘Venezuelan President’ Announces Another Humanitarian Aid Provocation

Permanent Russian Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzia (left) and US Special Representative on Venezuela Elliot Abrams (right). Click to see full-size image

On February 28^th, the rival resolutions on Venezuela by US and Russia were both blocked at the United Nations Security Council.

The US proposal received the necessary 9 votes but was vetoed by Russia, China and South Africa.

“The US draft resolution called for the holding of new elections and a recognition of self-proclaimed interim President Guaidó. Nine voted in favour (Germany, Poland, Peru, US, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Dominican Republic, Kuwait), three against (Russia, China, South Africa) and there were three abstentions (Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire).”

The US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliot Abrams commented on the block of the draft resolution:

“The Situation in Venezuela demands our action now,” the United States Special Representative for Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, told the Council. “The time for a peaceful transition to democracy is now…We look forward to genuine free and fair elections and to a Government that reflects the will and aspirations of the Venezuelan people.”

UK Ambassador Karen Pierce praised the US resolution, and criticized the Russian resolution as partially fiction. “There have been no threats to Venezuela’s political independence or territorial integrity,” she said.

The Russian draft received 4 votes in favor – from Russia, China, South Africa and Equatorial Guinea. The resolution called for a dialogue between the Government and the opposition, in line with the Montevideo mechanism – a forum for talks, launched by Mexico and Uruguay earlier this February. It received 7 votes against (Germany, Poland, Peru, US, United Kingdom, France, Belgium) and 4 abstentions (Côte d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Kuwait).

“We drafted an alternative draft resolution, the aim of which is not to incite political intrigues and regime change but rather to genuinely help the Venezuelan people in efforts to normalize the situation in the country,” said Russian Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia.

“The draft submitted by the US delegation was written for regime change disguised as care for people. We’ve seen all of this already vis a vis Libya, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan,” he said.

Nebenzia also claimed that the Russian draft resolution had not been taken seriously by the council. “Yesterday we convened expert-level consultations on our text, we listened to the views of members of the Security Council including the US representative. We heard not a single specific comment on our draft. Western experts said that they would not work on our text and US colleagues immediately tabled their draft for the vote. Where’s diplomacy here? Where’s a quest for compromise?” he said.

“As tensions continue to escalate, the UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) has been documenting the humanitarian crisis in the country: infant mortality has increased by more than 50 per cent since 2017; four in five hospitals lack the necessary medicines and staff to be operational. To date, the UN refugee and migration agencies (UNHCR and IOM, respectively), estimate that the number of Venezuelans to have fled their country stands at 3.4 million.”

The UN concluded the article by saying that excessive use of force had left several civilians dead and employing such means should stop by the Venezuelan government.

Separately, in statements posted by TeleSUR’s Madelein Garcia, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez claims that the Venezuelan military has been battling “unprecedented aggression by the fiercest empire of the US.” He also claimed that “everything is supported by lying, manipulation” and is a “perverse aggression to break the institutionality and seize power.”

He also said that in total 109 National Guard members have defected and they were promised $20,000 for crossing the border and joining the opposition’s side.

“We have identified over 100 National Guard members among the officials, there are not a few of them actually, who have crossed the border in hope to receive $20,000 promised to them,” Padrino said.

This is completely in contrast of claims by the migration service of Colombia that the number of Venezuelan service members who had crossed into Colombia had surpassed 320 people. Meanwhile, the Analitica news outlet reported, citing the same agency, that the number of defectors allegedly reached 567 people.

1. @vladimirpadrino: hemos venido dando la batalla ante una agresión inédita del imperio más feroz que hay #EEUU con su poderío y nosotros estamos haciendo el papel que nos corresponde vamos a defender a #Venezuela, el pueblo, la constitución, las autoridades en cualquier terreno pic.twitter.com/cXKOUQbTzv

— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR) February 27, 2019

2. @vladimirpadrino: todo está sustentado en la mentira, en la manipulación todo se cae por si solo, es una agresión perversa para quebrar la institucionalidad y tomar el poder, tenemos problemas si, tenemos asuntos que resolver si, pero también asuntos que defender la soberanía pic.twitter.com/0dV4QqqLz0

— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR) February 27, 2019

9. Los 109 militares que han desertado han siso degradados de la #FANB "no importa la cantidad no pueden llamarse militares los que deshonran el uniforme y cuando digo que no importa es porque los que nos quedamos vamos a defender con las armas, el espíritu y la razón la patria" pic.twitter.com/iTjWtCNAYT

— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR) February 27, 2019

[There are 9 parts of the statement in total]

On February 28^th, Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, said that the United States was arming Venezuelan deserters to form a so-called liberation army to invade the South American country.

The envoy also suggested that Washington was fabricating a report about a high number of deserters in order to justify the creation of such an army.

The Venezuelan diplomat also warned against the attempts of coup d’etat against the democratically elected government led by President Nicolas Maduro, attempts that are perpetrated through the illegal entry of the so-called “humanitarian aid.”

He highlighted the violent actions of some groups of people, linked to the Venezuelan opposition, violently tried to enter trucks with the so-called “humanitarian aid” through the border bridges. “It was an international incident that has been deliberately ignored (…) It constitutes hostile acts against our nation and a violation of the founding charter of the U.N.,” he said.

Venezuela's Samuel Moncado points out that the OAS continues to recognise President @NicolasMaduro, and denounces the fact that there has been no discussion of the violent attacks against Venezuela that took place last week. pic.twitter.com/eNz3HwgCyF

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) February 28, 2019

Separately, US-proclaimed Interim President Juan Guaido announced that a new batch of US Humanitarian Aid had arrived in Cucuta, Colombia and reiterated the opposition’s commitment to get the food and medicine into Venezuela.

En este momento está llegando a Cúcuta un avión con más ayuda humanitaria proveniente de Estados Unidos.

Ratificamos nuestro agradecimiento a su Gobierno. Seguiremos acopiando y encontrando vías para ingresar comida y medicina. No renunciamos a la urgencia de los venezolanos. pic.twitter.com/nusABAdObj

— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) February 28, 2019

Guaido is yet to return to Venezuela, which he was prohibited from leaving in the first place. President Nicolas Maduro claimed that he should stand trial after returning to the country, because he didn’t comply to a ruling of the Venezuelan Supreme Court.