Venezuela warns US ‘aggression’ is first stage amid ‘continental ambitions’
Al Jazeera
Venezuela’s UN ambassador denounces US military strikes, naval blockade at a meeting of the UN Security Council.
Venezuela has told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that the United States has “continental ambitions” over much of Latin America as it wages an unofficial war to remove the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“It’s not just about Venezuela. The ambition is continental,” Venezuela’s UN ambassador, Samuel Moncada, told a meeting of the 15-member UNSC on Tuesday.
“The US government has expressed this in its National Security Strategy, which states that the future of the continent belongs to them,” Moncada said.
“We want to alert the world that Venezuela is only the first target of a larger plan. The US government wants us to be divided so it can conquer us piece by piece,” he said.
Venezuela, earlier this month, requested that the UNSC meet to address the “ongoing US aggression”, which began in September when the White House launched air strikes against vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. The White House claimed, without providing any evidence, that the vessels were trafficking drugs to the US.
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Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev says the talks were ‘constructive’ and will continue on Sunday.
The talks lauded the first stage of the truce, including humanitarian aid, return of captives and reduced hostilities.
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Top US diplomat warns all involved will face lasting condemnation as fighting escalates in strategic central region.
The attacks come a week after three Americans, including two US soldiers, were killed in Syria’s Palmyra.