BUENOS AIRES, September 23. /TASS/. Uruguay will withdraw from the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (commonly known as the Rio Treaty) if its signatories approve military action against Venezuela, Uruguayan Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa stated in an interview with La Republica daily published on Monday.
"We will oppose this mechanism, at least in its most radical form, as it would be considered direct intervention in the Venezuelan conflict," the minister said.
"If the vote end ends in the expected result, we will denounce it and withdraw from the treaty," Nin Novoa said. He added that the Rio Treaty must not apply when "a group of states decides to invade another country that is not waging war."
On September 11, on the outcomes of the meeting in Washington, the Organization of American States agreed to discuss the use of the Rio Treaty mechanism against Caracas. The mechanism includes an expanded set of measures, including international military intervention. Foreign ministers of the countries that signed the treaty plan to discuss this issue on September 23 in New York.
Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas on January 23. On the same day, the United States recognized him as an interim president, and the countries of the Lima Group (excluding Mexico) and the Organization of American States followed suit. Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro blasted the move as an attempted coup and announced cutting diplomatic ties with the United States.
Most European Union member-states also recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president. Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro.