Ambassador: Brazil will not support military intervention in Venezuela
Published:Wednesday | November 7, 2018 | 12:00 AMPaul Clarke/Gleaner Writer
Brazil will not be part of any plans to use military intervention in Venezuela, says Carlos Michaelsen den Hartog, Brazilian ambassador to Jamaica.
He said that more should be done to find a lasting solution to the crisis in the oil-rich South American nation and that a military option would be extremely surprising and one he believed Brazil would not support.
"What's happening in Venezuela is very complex. It's really difficult to sum up what is really happening in that country.
"But we have these agreements with Mercosur, and Venezuela is part of Mercosur, and Brazil has been pushing with the Lima group on the Venezuela issue, but people may speculate all they want, but any kind of military intervention should be forgotten quickly," den Hartog said.
Mercosur is officially the Southern Common Market in the South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of AsunciÛn in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Venezuela has been suspended from the group since December 1, 2016.
The Brazilian diplomat said that he would be extremely surprised if any country in the bloc called for military intervention.
den Hartog stated that it would be better for regional powers to find ways of helping to solve Venezuela's increasing humanitarian problem than to seek a solution that would create even more hardships.
Noting that the influx of Venezuelan refugees and asylum seekers was posing a challenge in his country, den Hartog said that the Brazilian Government has tried to help. He added that the situation demands a positive response from neighbouring countries.
"We all need to help. They (refugees) can't be blamed for what's happening, but a solution must be found, and it cannot be a military solution," he stressed.