translated from Spanish: Uruguay to leave TIAR if armed road is agreed for Venezuela

Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa on Monday warned that the country will abandon the Inter-American Treaty on Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR), a regional agreement that includes a collective defense clause, if finally decided and acting in the armed way in Venezuela.Twelve member states of the TIAR agreed on 11 September to convene the advisory body of the TIAR, the first step in activating the so-called Rio Treaty, to address the crisis in Venezuela. The foreign ministers of these countries will meet on Monday as part of the UN General Assembly to agree on the next step. Uruguay, which in the vote in which it was decided to convene the TIAR advisory body abstained, considers that it is acting against the “spirit of the treaty”, as it was developed to “defend the member countries against external aggression”, as explained Novoa in an interview given to the Uruguayan newspaper ‘La República’. Novoa has opposed the use of force, the most “radical” measure contained in TIAR, and has hoped that at monday’s meeting it will be committed to a “more moderate” stance, as the regional agreement envisages a wide range of political and diplomatic measures.” Uruguay is going to think a lot about this treaty and, if this vote has the consequences it would seem to have, we are going to denounce it and we are going to get out of the treaty, for sure,” he said. Colombia and Chile, two of the twelve countries that supported activating THE TIAR, have also rejected a eventual use of force in Venezuela, while the Lima Group, which brings together several American nations for its aversion to the government of Nicolás Maduro, has also advocated for peaceful action.

Original source in Spanish