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President Obama Officially Declares Venezuela Threat to ‘US National Security’

21st Century Wire says…

Quietly and with little fanfare in the global press, Washington DC has added Venezuela to its growing list of countries it has declared war on.

On Monday, the Obama Administration issued its first set of new sanctions on Venezuela, targeting seven specific Venezuelan officials, freezing their U.S. assets and banning them from traveling to the US.

Neighboring Cuba has announced they will support Venezuela in this latest diplomatic row with Washington, a counter-move which may adversely effect President Obama’s recent policy of détente towards the Castro government in Havana.

Only three weeks ago, an attempted coup d’é·tat took place in Venezuela. It is the third failed US-backed coup attempt in the last 25 years.

21WIRE also posted a timeline of the western-backed coup. as well as details of both Canadian and British involvement in the operation alongside of the US.

As any competent student of diplomacy knows, when a country declares sanctions against another nation it is the first stage in progressive declarations of war. In this case, Washington clearly wishes for ‘regime change’ in Caracas, and now plans to achieve this outcome by any means.

The following is the statement posted by the White House putting Venezuela on war notice:

“I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, find that the situation in Venezuela, including the Government of Venezuela’s erosion of human rights guarantees, persecution of political opponents, curtailment of press freedoms, use of violence and human rights violations and abuses in response to anti-government protests, and arbitrary arrest and detention of anti-government protestors, as well as the exacerbating presence of significant public corruption, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat,” the order reads. ​

The war of words has now escalated beyond words to actions.

Considering what is going on between Washington and Tehran, this latest debacle in South America should be a cause for grave concern…

Maduro Obama Crop
MADURO AND OBAMA: Diplomatic face-off in progress, but will it lead to war.

US issues sanctions on Venezuelan officials

TeleSur/Tony Seed

U.S. President Barack Obama issued a new Executive Order against Venezuela Monday aimed at interfering in the country’s politics, claiming, “Venezuelan officials past and present who violate the human rights of Venezuelan citizens and engage in acts of public corruption will not be welcome” in the United States.

Immediately after, Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry announced the government of President Nicolas Maduro would “soon” respond to Obama’s executive action against the Latin American country.

“We will soon make Venezuela’s response to the extent and reach of these statements,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said in a news conference.

Reuters reported that Obama declared Venezuela a national security threat, sanctioning seven individuals and expressing concern about the Venezuelan government’s treatment of political opponents.

ALSO READ: US Aggression Against Venezuela Fact Not Fiction

“We now have the tools to block their assets and their use of U.S. financial systems,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.

“We are deeply concerned by the Venezuelan government’s efforts to escalate intimidation of its political opponents. Venezuela’s problems cannot be solved by criminalizing dissent,” Earnest added.

The White House spokesperson also said that, “We are deeply concerned by the Venezuelan government’s efforts to escalate intimidation of its political opponents. Venezuela’s problems cannot be solved by criminalizing dissent.”

Earnest said Washington has consistently called on the Venezuelan government to release opposition member they claim to be unjustly jailed.

“The Venezuelan government should release all political prisoners, including dozens of students, opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez and Mayors Daniel Ceballos and Antonio Ledezma,” he stated, completely ignoring all the conclusive evidence presented by the Venezuelan government against the these and other members of the right-wing opposition.

These statements come despite the fact that grave human rights violations have been reported in the United States, including the police killing of various unarmed African-Americans and Hispanics without any legal consequences against the perpetrators.

The U.S. is also responsible for serious human rights violations against dozens of arbitrarily detained people in Guantanamo.

The Obama administration has also opted to ignore the extremely serious human rights issues in allied countries such as Mexico, despite the fact that international organizations, including the United Nations, have continuously reported on them.

TELESUR

SEE ALSO: Economic War on Venezuela AND: The War on Venezuela’s Democracy

READ MORE VENEZUELA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Venezuela Files

 

 

 

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