United States intervention in Venezuela is legitimate, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Monday.
“We believe that military intervention is not suitable for resolving the issues, but US intervention in Venezuela is legitimate given the threat they perceived, and this will emerge in (deposed President Nicolas) Maduro’s trial, also given the key witness from the Venezuelan intelligence services,” said Tajani, who is also deputy premier, in an interview with RTL 102.5.
“Drug trafficking,” he added, “is also a tool for attacking other countries. From this perspective, to protect one’s own security, intervention is legitimate. Now let’s work for a democratic transition, for the rule of law. Few people in recent years have denounced the Maduro dictatorship. We have always done so. Others underestimated the Maduro regime, today Venezuela is freer.” Tajani added that Italy was doing “the possible and the impossible” to help free Aberto Trentini, an Italian aid worker who has been held in Venezuela on ‘conspiracy’ charges for over a year.
Regarding Trentini’s release, Tajani told the dario station: “I spoke with our ambassador in Caracas until last night. We are working and trying everything possible and impossible. We hope that dialogue with Rodriguez will be easier to bring home a person who has done no harm.” “We must guarantee our community and the release of the Italian political prisoners, of whom there are about twenty, and that of Trentini, who was the last. We are fully committed to bringing them home. The others are also political prisoners,” the minister emphasized. “Not because they have committed any wrongdoing.”
Asked if there would be global escalation after the US attack to arrest Maduro, Tajani said Venezuela was a special case. He also said the European Union should take a firm stance against Trump’s desire to annex Greenland.”These matters must be kept clearly distinct. Drug trafficking is a specific issue and concerns that part of Latin America, from Venezuela to Colombia, where there are terrorists who arm themselves thanks to drug trafficking,” Tajani told RTL 102.5 when asked whether the American military intervention in Venezuela could trigger an escalation in other international scenarios, such as China’s involvement in Taiwan.”We’ll see what Donald Trump’s real intentions are on Greenland,” but “the EU must take its own position and guarantee the independence of a territory that is part of the Danish Crown.” In general, regarding the need to move forward with a common European defense in the changing international landscape, Tajani expressed his conviction of the need to “strengthen European security. It was the dream of De Gasperi and Berlusconi. Now steps are being taken towards greater coordination, but I think we need a European defense, something more than coordination. We need to strengthen security that goes beyond defense, such as cybersecurity.”
