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Hamas, PLO slam ‘blatant US interference’ in Venezuela affairs

January 25, 2019 at 4:11 pm

President Donald Trump answers questions during a meeting with military leaders in the Cabinet Room on 23 October, 2018 in Washington [Murat Kaynak/Anadolu Agency]

Hamas and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation have joined Turkey and Iran in stressing their opposition to foreign interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela.

The comments came as the US administration of President Donald Trump recognised opposition figure, Juan Guaidó, as interim president of Venezuela on Wednesday.

In a statement, Hamas condemned “the blatant American interference in Venezuelan affairs”.

Adding that this “is part of a continuing series of hostile US policies towards people and their choices, which is a threat to international peace and security.”

PLO Executive Committee member Ahmad Majdalani said: “The barefaced American intervention in the affairs of countries, as is happening in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is an extension of the Trump administration’s policy of denying the will of peoples.”

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to offer support after Guaidó declared himself interim president and won the backing of the US and various Latin American nations.

In a joint statement, a number of Caribbean countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada, said they “are following closely the current unsatisfactory situation in Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,”

They went on to reaffirm “their guiding principles of non-interference and non-intervention in the affairs of states, respect for sovereignty, adherence to the rule of law, and respect for human rights and democracy”, calling for “an urgent meeting with the United Nations Secretary-General to request the UN’s assistance in resolving the issue.”

Maduro was sworn in on 10 January for his second six-year term in a presidential election which took place on 20 May 2018, but his main rivals rejected the election results, arguing that there had been “widespread irregularities” in the vote.