UNITED NATIONS, September 28. /TASS/. The constantly changing stance of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido in his negotiations with the government demonstrates that he acts under someone’s control, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly.
"Mr. Guaido’s envoys - they change their stance in the morning, evening, on the day after. At first, they rejected all initiatives. <...> Later, Guaido seemed to build dialogue between his representatives and representatives of the government during the so-called Oslo process. Now the government - as was confirmed to me by Venezuelan leadership envoys - is ready for the Oslo process, but the whims of Mr. Guaido and his team can clearly be explained by the fact that he is not an independent figure," Lavrov said at a news conference to sum up the results of his work at the UN General Assembly.
"He is being told what to do in order to create another pretext for a crisis, to escalate tensions, to justify the practical use of the Monroe Doctrine, to trigger the mechanism known as the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance," he went on.
Russia’s top diplomat added that "the possibility of a military invasion in Venezuela" is being discussed as part of this mechanism.
"Of course, I cannot make decisions for a sovereign state, we do not interfere into their affairs, but I have a feeling that if this happens, all the peoples of Latin America, the majority of the Latin America’s population will be outraged, they will be thrown 200 years back," Lavrov said.
He went on to say that Venezuelan representatives whom he met on Friday, including Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, "are poised for a dialogue with the opposition to search for national accord."
"Naturally, they are negotiating with the part of the opposition which is ready to do so," Lavrov said.
During the General Debate of the 74th UN General Assembly on Friday, Lavrov said Russia strongly opposed US attempts to return the Latin American continent to the times of the Monroe Doctrine, which envisages regime changes through military blackmail and economic coercion. .
"We are now facing the attempts to add Venezuela to the list of countries whose statehood was destroyed before our eyes through aggression or coups inspired from abroad," he said. "Like the overwhelming majority of the UN members, Russia is rejecting the attempts to return the "rules" dating back to the times of Monroe Doctrine to Latin America, to change from outside regimes in sovereign states descending to the methods of military blackmail, unlawful coercion and blockade as it happens in relation to Cuba in defiance of the UN resolutions."
"Next year marks the 60th anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples adopted at the initiative of our country. However, a number of Western states are still clinging to the old ‘rules,’ ignoring this Declaration and other decisions of the General Assembly on decolonization addressed directly to them, while keeping former overseas territories under their control," Russia’s top diplomat added.
The Monroe Doctrine emerged in US in the early 19th century. It centered around the idea that Western hemisphere countries must not become embroiled in European conflicts. However, in practice, it was often used to justify the US dominance in the region, interference of some states into domestic affairs of others and the policy of expansionism.
Crisis in Venezuela
Tensions in Venezuela started escalating in late January, after Juan Guaido, an opposition leader and parliament speaker whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, had declared himself interim president.
Several countries, including the United States, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), Australia, Albania, Georgia and Israel, as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him. Maduro, in turn, blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US. On February 4, most of the European Union member states recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president
In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro, while China called for resolving all differences peacefully and warned against foreign interference. The United Nations secretary general, in turn, called for dialogue to resolve the crisis.