The Foreign Ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement countries issued a statement of solidarity with and defense of Venezuela’s sovereignty on Oct. 15, the first day of their two-day Midterm Ministerial Meeting, being held in Uganda, the current Non-Aligned chair. The Non-Aligned Movement, which grew out of the historic 1955 Bandung Conference—the first anti-colonial conference in the post-World War II era—is today the second-largest international organization, after the United Nations. Its membership was found to be 121 nations at last count. While it is not now in the lead of the formation of the new global paradigm underway, it remains an important forum for dialogue and coordination for the entire Global South. Its statement, therefore, of support for Venezuela should not be dismissed.
The ministers reiterated their “serious concern” over the on-the-ground situation in the Caribbean. Since their representatives met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in mid-September and were apprised of the danger, the danger has “escalated,” through the “deployment of extra-regional military forces and assets, further hostile actions, intimidating threats and even more aggressive rhetoric. Any further deterioration … including as a result of a direct armed attack against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, risks a spillover effect into the entire Latin American and Caribbean region.” The status of that region as a “zone of peace” stands in jeopardy, they warn, insisting again that the principles of the United Nations Charter be upheld,
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yván Eduardo Gil Pinto had a lot to discuss when they compared notes and strategies on the regional and global situations, in their meeting on the sidelines of the NAM in Uganda. Together, they insisted on the fundamental principle that nations have the right “to defend themselves against coercion and unlawful bullying.”
