The Venezuelan government, through a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rejected on Saturday the entry of Colombia to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the category of global partner, as announced by the President of that country, Juan Manuel Santos.
Through this communiqué, Venezuela denounces to the international community the intention of the Colombian authorities to introduce an external military alliance with nuclear capacity in Latin America.
Next, the full text:
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, on behalf of the Venezuelan people and the Government, rejects the unusual announcement made by the President of the Republic of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, on Friday, May 25, 2018, on the Your country’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the category of global partner.
Venezuela once again denounces to the international community the intention of the Colombian authorities to lend themselves to introduce in Latin America and the Caribbean, an external military alliance with nuclear capability, which clearly constitutes a serious threat to regional peace and stability, from the defense of inconceivable interests foreign to the welfare of our sovereign peoples.
The world witnesses the historical position of Latin America and the Caribbean by taking due distance from the policies and actions of the NATO and any other military or military organization that seeks to appeal to the use of force and the suffering of the peoples, to impose and guarantee the hegemony of a particular political and economic model.
We urge the Government of the Republic of Colombia to observe and fulfill the international obligations with which it has committed itself as a member of regional organizations aimed at guaranteeing peace and the peaceful settlement of disputes. These include the provisions of the Tlatelolco Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean; the Declaration of Havana of the ECLAC that proclaims Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace; the Declaration of South America as a Zone of Peace, and the Confidence and Security Promotion Measures and its Procedures approved within the framework of the South American Defense Council of UNASUR.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reiterates once again its rejection of all kinds of extra-regional threats that intend to intimidate the Latin American and Caribbean peoples, determined to be free and independent, based on the spirit of cooperation, respect for Public International Law, the right to development, the right to life and, consequently, the right to live in peace.
Caracas, May 26, 2018
