Brasilia, Sep 13 (Prensa Latina) Activating the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR) and using force against Venezuela would represent the destruction of South America, denounced former Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim.
‘This attempt to activate TIAR is very serious. I am very concerned because it foresees the possibility of using force, although this is illegal since only the United Nations can authorize such practice,’ Amorim affirmed in an interview with the Opera Mundi site, replicated by other media sources.
The Organization of American States approved the mechanism on Wednesday, strongly rejected by several Latin American nations.
The former head of Brazilian diplomacy warned that activating such a treaty would be ‘a very bad hypothesis, it will be the destruction of South America as never before.’
According to the former minister, the most likely hypothesis is that countries that voted in favor of TIAR apply sanctions against the Maduro government, an attitude that ‘would be as serious as military intervention.’
‘I am really concerned about sanctions, which would have an effect as devastating as an armed attack. I studied extensively the issue of Iraq, which was heavily sanctioned by the UN Security Council (during the Gulf War of 1991).
‘The Iraqi people have been forced to regress to the Middle Ages and ills such as child mortality have increased considerably,’ he argued.
Amorim described TIAR, drafted in 1947 during the Cold War period, as obsolete and criticized Brazil’s position in support of its activation.
According to the former minister, ‘Brazil’s position is shameful because even during the dictatorship (1964-1985) we did not have the position of overthrowing governments.’
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