Rio Treaty To Impose Travel Restrictions On Venezuela's Officials In December - US Envoy

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2019) The Rio Treaty countries will meet next week to adopt new travel restrictions against Venezuelan government officials, the United States special representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams told reporters on Wednesday.

"Next week, on December 3, signatory countries of the Rio Treaty will meet in Bogota, Columbia, to consider and we hope adopt coordinated regional travel restrictions and visa denials against several dozen [Venezuela's President Nicholas] Maduro regime officials," Abrams said at the press briefing in the State Department.

"These are new steps in growing regional efforts against the regime and in support of a return to democracy."

Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, also known as the Rio Treaty, is a regional defense pact signed in 1947 in Rio de Janeiro. It was invoked by the United States and its allies in September to facilitate further collective action to confront the alleged threat posed by Maduro's government. Maduro has accused the United States of trying to launch a military coup to topple his government.