US Only Aims In Venezuela At Delegitimization Of Maduro - Lavrov

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published March 01, 2019 | 04:42 PM

The United States' only aim in Venezuela is to delegitimize incumbent President Nicolas Maduro, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday at a press conference, held after his talks with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st March, 2019) The United States' only aim in Venezuela is to delegitimize incumbent President Nicolas Maduro, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday at a press conference, held after his talks with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.

Lavrov noted that US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams had declared that the United States would not cooperate with UN agencies on humanitarian aid deliveries to Venezuela, due to the fact that these agencies cooperate with the government of Maduro. The United States, in the meantime, supports self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido.

"This is the position of a country that claims that it cares about the humanitarian situation in Venezuela. It is ready to stage provocations [at the Venezuelan border], like on February 23. In fact it does not want anything else apart from delegitimization of the legal government, legal President Nicolas Maduro," Lavrov stressed.

The foreign minister said that he did not rule out that the United States would decide to conduct military intervention in Venezuela.

"We hope very much that reason will prevent within the US leadership," Lavrov said.

The Venezuelan opposition tried on February 23 to force US-sponsored aid into Venezuela through its borders with Colombia and Brazil, both of which support the opposition. The failed attempts resulted in clashes between the Venezuelan National Guard officers, who prevented trucks from crossing the country's border without permission, and pro-aid protesters. Maduro, who has rejected the unauthorized aid as Washington's attempts to intervene in Venezuela and oust him from power, claimed that the opposition and long-time US ally Colombia had gathered special gangs of bandits at the border.