Venezuela rejects US claims to interfere in its military cooperation programs - MPPRE

Venezuela rejects US claims to interfere in its military cooperation programs

The Foreign Minister of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza, rejected on Monday the pretensions of the US government to interfere in the technical-military cooperation programs that the Latin American country maintains with the Russian Federation. In particular, he alluded to the call made – during a telephone conversation – by the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, after the arrival in Caracas of two military aircraft from Russia within the framework of the bilateral alliance. FM Arreaza stressed that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is irrevocably free and independent and will maintain military cooperation with its allies in the world, to strengthen the methods of protection of the Venezuelan people and territory against any external aggression. In the same way, he denounced that the only tensions on Venezuela have been those that the US government has generated through threats with the use of force, “the criminal economic blockade and the direct leadership that Washington has assumed in the failed process of Coup”. The US Secretary of State called on Russia to “cease its unconstructive behavior” and asserted that Washington “will not stand aside, as Russia exacerbates tensions in Venezuela”. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Russian Federation have consolidated a strategic alliance of bilateral cooperation, which has crystallized with the signing of a series of agreements in different spheres, including military.