‘No excuse’ for US actions, Stefanou says at Venezuela protest

There can be “no excuse” for the United States’ actions in Venezuela, Akel leader Stefanos Stefanou said on Monday as protesters gathered at the US embassy in Nicosia to demonstrate against airstrikes carried out by US forces in Venezuela and the capture of both its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on Saturday.

“We categorically state that no alibi and no excuse can justify any illegality. This is why we categorically reject opinions in the press that the American intervention is justified because it was carried out at the expense of a dictator or to prevent the supposed trafficking of drugs into the United States,” he said.

He added that it is “more obvious that the United States government acted with the aim of exploiting Venezuela’s rich oil deposits and not to restore democracy in the country”.

If restoring Venezuelan democracy had been the US’ aim, he said, the country would “have to intervene in a number of other countries which have tyrannical regimes, but which are allies of the United States”.

Even so, he added, this “would not justify the intervention”.

“It is well known that the US always tries to cover up the illegal interventions and invasions it has carried out all over the world with fabricated news. In every US invasion and intervention, an all-powerful propaganda mechanism always operates,” he said.

He said that this occasion is no exception, but that now, the US’ actions in Venezuela have “caused strong reactions even within the country”.

“Members of the US congress, including Republicans, accuse the Trump administration of violating not only international law, but also US legislation,” he said, likely in reference to Senator Mike Lee of Utah.

Lee had written in a social media post on Saturday that “I look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorisation for the use of military force”.

“So, when Trump is accused and criticised from within America itself, one has to wonder what the purpose is and what are the intentions of all those who have already rushed to justify the American president,” Stefanou said.

He added that this is what “the far-right Elam have done here in Cyprus, for example, by providing a full cover for the illegalities of the American administration”.

On this point, he also criticised the “hypocritical stance of the European Union”, saying that it “cannot go unnoticed”.

“The European leadership avoids naming the blatant violation of international law and of the United Nations charter. It limits itself to general and meaningless statements. And in this matter, the EU leadership proves that it is not based on positions of principle, but that it applies a policy of double standards,” he said.

He added that “the sensitivities of the European leadership are selective and case-by-case”, and that this “further undermines the already wounded credibility of the European Union”, before turning his attention to the Cypriot government.

“In the face of the illegalities and the aggression of the US against Venezuela, the government of the Republic of Cyprus must take a clear position, condemning the actions of the Trump administration, demanding full respect for the UN charter and international law,” he said.

This, he said, “is the least that the government of a country such as Cyprus, which is the victim of invasion, occupation, and a violation of its territorial integrity, can ask for”.

He warned that the principles of international law “cannot be applied selectively”, and that “such approaches only undermine, disregard, marginalise, and ultimately abolish international law”.