Brazil's vice president said Monday that the U.S. will not be allowed to use his country to militarily invade Venezuela amid international outcry against the Venezuelan government.
Retired Gen. Hamilton Mourão said in an interview with the Globo News cable channel that Brazil will do whatever it can to avoid conflict with its South American neighbor, according to
Reuters.
Mourão gave the interview from Bogota, Ecuador, where he attended a meeting of the Lima Group, a bloc of nations from Argentina to Canada focused on peacefully resolving the Venezuela crisis.
The Trump administration has been steadily increasing pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to step down after officially recognizing National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó as the country's interim president earlier this year.
Several other nations and international organizations followed the U.S. in recognizing Guaidó.
Their pressure has involved sanctions on officials and entities tied to Maduro, as well as imposing wider sanctions on the gold trade.
The Trump administration has not yet offered military aid to Guaidó, but has said that it is still on the table.
Tensions on Venezuela's border with Brazil have risen as Maduro loyalists have blocked foreign aid from coming into the country.
Maduro has said the assistance is politically motivated and essentially foreign intervention.
Several aid groups, including the Red Cross and Caritas, have declined to participate in Guaidó's aid campaign, saying that any aid would not be neutral.
Maduro's government
closed several border crossings with Colombia last week, citing threats to Venezuelan sovereignty.
oh well i was expecting to much anyway, carry on citizen
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