MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. Brazil is deeply concerned about US President Donald Trump's actions towards Venezuela and hopes that a military conflict will not occur, Brazil’s ambassador to Russia, Sergio Rodrigues dos Santos, said in an interview with TASS.
"We view with deep concern the actions taken by the US administration towards Venezuela as they threaten to undermine all the gains we have made in our region in terms of stability and peace. We are very concerned that if the worst-case scenario comes to fruition, we will face serious instability that could last for many years in our region. And we must avoid this," he said. The ambassador also expressed hope that a military conflict between the United States and Venezuela will not occur.
You can never predict how a conflict will end, the diplomat noted. "Our priority is to prevent any conflict, and that's what we've done successfully for decades in South America. We strive to preserve that legacy and not let it be destroyed," he said.
"If you look at South America today, you see that it's a region of peace and cooperation. It's a region of economic integration. It's a nuclear-weapon-free zone. All countries with the potential to develop nuclear weapons, including Brazil and Argentina, have voluntarily renounced that capability. This characterizes South America. And none of this happened by chance, it's the result of decades of diplomatic work, cooperation, effort, and measures taken by every government in the region to create the situation we now strive to maintain," the diplomat noted.
Washington baselessly accuses Venezuelan authorities of insufficiently combating drug trafficking. American media have repeatedly reported that the US may soon begin striking drug cartel targets in Venezuela. Moscow expects the US administration to take a pragmatic approach to the situation around Venezuela to prevent serious consequences for the entire region, Alexander Shchetinin, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Latin American department, told TASS.