Uruguay's former Defense Minister Jose Bayardi accused Organization of American States Secretary-General Luis Almagro of “coordinating” with the U.S. to destabilize and overthrow Venezuela’s government.
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Bayardi, head of international affairs for Uruguay’s Broad Front coalition, said OAS attempts to suspend the socialist country’s membership are a campaign of “Operation Venezuela Freedom,” a U.S. military operation aimed at overthrowing the Bolivarian Revolution.
“From 1948 until now, there has not been an OAS decision that goes against the interests of the United States,” Boyardi said Tuesday at a regional diplomacy meeting where he exposed the collaboration, La Red 21 reports.
Leaked U.S. Southern Command documents released by Venezuela’s Mission Truth in 2016 revealed 12 steps for destabilizing President Nicolas Maduro’s government and replacing it with right-wing opposition leaders. Citing the leaked document, Bayardi said several of these steps involve the OAS applying its Democratic Charter in order to expel Venezuela from the organization and isolate it.
“There is a serious problem here, because if the activation of the democratic clause presupposes the exit of Venezuela from the OAS, foreign military intervention mechanisms will be activated,” Bayardi said. “In this situation, we would have a problem of destabilization of the region as a whole.”
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Bayardi’s comments on Almagro’s collaboration with U.S. intervention efforts are groundbreaking, given that both politicians are members of the same coalition: the Broad Front. Almagro, however, represents the pro-interventionist sector of the coalition that supports war against Venezuela, Bayardi claimed.
Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez, also a member of the Broad Front, is one of several regional leaders to support the OAS’ call to invoke the Democratic Charter Venezuela. Maduro said that he has repeatedly called on Vazquez to “talk about the declarations,” but to little avail.
“I wish Uruguay’s positions with regards to bodies such as the OAS were more controlled, especially since that organization has served the interests of countries like the U.S.,” Boyardi added.
Operation Venezuela Freedom also calls for “exploiting issues such as the shortage of water, food and electricity.”