RIO DE JANEIRO, December 20. /TASS/. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has warned that the United States potential invasion of Venezuela may be fraught with a humanitarian catastrophe in the Western Hemisphere and serious consequences for the entire world.
"An armed aggression against Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe for the entire hemisphere and a dangerous precedent for the whole of the world," he said at the 67th summit of the South American Common Market (Mercosur).
He called on the countries of the region to consolidate their efforts to preserve it as a zone of peace and stability. "Building a prosperous and peaceful South America is the only doctrine that is in our interests," the Brazilian leader emphasized. "More than four decades after the Falklands War, the South American continent is faced with the influence of an off-region power again."
Washington groundlessly accuses Caracas of not doing enough to combat drug smuggling. Under this pretext, a strike group of US warships led by the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, o nuclear-powered submarine, and more than 16,000 troops have reportedly been deployed by the United States to the Caribbean. Since September, the US has destroyed at least 20 boats and eliminated more than 80 people allegedly involved in drug trafficking from Venezuela. According to the American media, the United States may begin delivering strikes on drug cartel targets in Venezuela.