At a meeting of the Security Council at the United Nations (UN), Brazilian ambassador Sérgio Danese said, this Monday (5), that it is not possible to accept the argument that the ends justify the means in the armed intervention of the United States in Venezuela, which resulted in the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, last Saturday (4). 
For him, it is not admissible to justify the use of force or the illegal overthrow of a government due to the exploitation of natural or economic resources.
“This reasoning lacks legitimacy and paves the way for granting the powerful the right to define what is fair or unfair, right or wrong, and even to disregard national sovereignty, imposing decisions that the weak must make.”
Solutions
In his speech, Danese highlighted that Brazil does not believe that the solution to the situation in Venezuela lies in the creation of protectorates in that country. “But rather solutions that respect the self-determination of the Venezuelan people, within the limits of their Constitution,” he stated.
For the ambassador, it is up to the Security Council to react with “determination, clarity and respect for international law, in order to prevent the law of force from prevailing over the Rule of Law”.
Dangerous precedent
Sérgio Danese also said that there was a violation of the United Nations Charter and international law and that these acts establish an “extremely dangerous” precedent for the entire international community, confirming position released by the Brazilian government on the last day 3.
The Brazilian ambassador reiterated that actions like these carried out by the United States threaten the world with violence, disorder and erosion of multilateralism. According to him, these decisions could harm international law and institutions.
For Danese, there are obvious effects of the weakening of international governance and cooperation mechanisms with the expansion of armed conflicts.
“As Brazil has already stated several times, the norms that govern coexistence between States are mandatory and universal.”
Alarming
“Latin America and the Caribbean have made peace a conscious, lasting and irreversible choice”, pondered the Brazilian ambassador. He noted, in his speech, that the situation is unprecedented and is “deeply alarming”.
For Danese, the events of January 3 transcend the regional sphere:
“An attack on the sovereignty of any country, regardless of the orientation of its government, affects the entire international community.”
