Venezuela: Lima Group Refuses to Back US Military Intervention

The predominantly right-wing Lima Group which supports the coup attempt by self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido backed by the United States said they would not condone a military intervention to depose President Nicolas Maduro.

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“As the Lima Group we have said we are not supporting military intervention in Venezuela,” said the Foreign Minister of Peru Nestor Popolizo. “We have no information” regarding military intervention, he added.

Nonetheless, the Lima Group’s interventionist activities have not ceased. They will meet on Monday in Ottawa, Canada in order to continue to plot in favor of self-appointed Juan Guaido.

“We will continue to support Juan Guaido’s regime,” said Polizo regarding the future meeting of the predominantly right-wing block.

These declarations come after National Security Adviser John Bolton sloppily scribbled “5000 troops to Colombia” provoking concern in Latin America about a possible U.S. invasion of Venezuela.

President Maduro’s response was that the U.S. is unfolding a “childish psychological war” against his government.

The group was created in 2017 at the behest of Peru. Recently, it has been highly engaged in promoting regime change in Venezuela with the backing of the United States and the European Union.

It is composed of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Santa Lucia, and Guyana. All of its members, except for Mexico, Guyana, and Santa Lucia, have backed Guiado’s coup attempt. Ecuador—not a party to the association—has backed the group’s stance on Venezuela.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Colombia and Brazil at the beginning of January at the same time the Lima Group met in Peru. “The issues dealt with [in the block’s meeting] and the final document should not be separated from the direct and indirect messages and purpose of the [Pompeo’s] visit,” according to a joint analysis conducted by CELAG and NODAL.

For the analysts, Pompeo’s meeting and his alleged influence over the Lima Group has geopolitical repercussion which goes far beyond Venezuela, although right now this is the regional focus of the efforts.

“The Group is a perfect excuse to united the countries which share U.S. geopolitical designs for Latin America around its interests, and the first step to achieve this is to isolate and then depose the government of Venezuela, to then be able to instate a hegemonic order in which no country stray from its area of influence,” added the analysts.