Tillerson in Colombia

by Stephen Lendman

It's the last stop of his four-nation Latin America tour ahead of visiting Jamaica on Wednesday.

Days earlier in Mexico, he called Venezuelan armed forces a possible "agent of change," suggesting they could replace Maduro with pro-Western governance.

A previous article explained his trip is all about squeezing more US corporate profits out of Latin and Central America and Caribbean nations than already, along with wanting Maduro ousted from office.

Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino slammed his remarks, calling them "interventionist," stressing the nation's military support for democratically elected Maduro.

During a joint press conference with Argentina's Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie, both officials said their governments might ban Venezuelan oil imports, Tillerson saying:

"Obviously, sanctioning the oil or in effect prohibiting the oil to be sold in the United States, or for the United States as well to sell or provide oil to Venezuela, or refined products, is something we continue to consider."

Maduro responded sharply, saying while "visiting Argentina, Rex Tillerson just threatened us with an oil embargo," adding: 

"We are prepared…Imperialism threatens us. We are ready to be free, and no one is going to stop us."

Tillerson "goes on a tour of five countries. What for? To conspire against President Maduro, against the Bolivarian revolution, against the people of Venezuela."

"But imperialism…has turned out to be a paper tiger, and here we have a true and vigorous revolution."

According to former Argentine ambassador to Venezuela Alicia Castro, in Colombia with narco-state terrorist president Juan Manuel Santos, Tillerson's regional tour aims to gain support for ousting Maduro, "an absolutely imperialistic plan," she called it, "confirmed by the official documents," adding:

In 2017, Washington "made an attempt at a two-phase coup. On the one hand, they asphyxiated people with a food and drugs shortage and on the other hand, they fueled the unrest in (Venezuelan) society to play (out) a classic scenario of people's insurrection." 

"In the latter, they failed. Besides, all of it was accompanied by the media's attack on the government."

The so-called Lima group includes Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru.

In August 2017, they signed the Lima Declaration, refusing to recognize Venezuela's democratically elected government - falsely calling its constitutionally-authorized National Constituent Assembly illegal.

Castro slammed Brazilian governance "where Michel Temer came to power via a (US-orchestrated) coup," adding:

"In Paraguay, president Horacio Cartes came to power in the very same way, by toppling Fernando Lugo." 

Colombia's "Juan Manuel Santos (and Mexico's) Enrique Pena Nieto…appear to be more concerned about Venezuela than about solving their own domestic problems."

She called Tillerson's comment about promoting regional security absurd, stressing "it is hard to imagine anybody choosing the US as a partner on promoting security," explaining Washington has been involved in virtually every regional coup for the past century or longer.

Tillerson slammed Russia during his tour, warning of consequences if it meddles in this year's November midterm elections, falsely saying:

"There's a lot of ways that the Russians can meddle in the elections, a lot of different tools they can use," adding:

"And we are seeing certain behaviors. There are a number of important elections in this hemisphere this year, and leading up to the US in 2018."

"I think it's important we just continue to say to Russia 'Look, if you think we don't see what you're doing, we do see it and you need to stop. If you don't, you are going to just continue to invite consequences for yourself.'"

When elections in America or elsewhere don't turn out the way dark forces in Washington wish, it's Russia's fault - despite no evidence proving accusations against the Kremlin.

Longstanding US policy calls for replacing all sovereign independent governments with pro-Western puppet ones - Russia, China, Iran, Syria and Venezuela prime targets.

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