South America

BOGOTA, February 25. /TASS/. The Lima Group countries do not support a military intervention in Venezuela, Brazilian Vice President Antonio Hamilton Mourao said on Monday.

"No one [in the Lima Group] supports a military solution to the situation [in Venezuela]," Mourao said.

The Brazilian vice president noted that "it is necessary to look for other ways to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela."

Brazil has no intention of allowing the United States to use its territory for a military operation against the Venezuelan government, Mourao stressed.

CARACAS, February 26. /TASS/. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has not ordered to open fire at civilians, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told "Democracy Now!" news program broadcast on Monday.

MONTEVIDEO, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Any humanitarian aid for Venezuela should be delivered under the oversight of the United Nations (UN), Uruguay's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Ariel Bergamino said on Monday.

"We believe the humanitarian aid should be delivered in keeping with the UN protocols, in order not to politicize it or create situations like Saturday's," Bergamino told state-run radio network RNU.

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb 24 (NNN-TELESUR) – People around the world have expressed solidarity with Venezuela and have rejected the United States government’s interventionism and the attempted coup in Venezuela.

Demonstrations in support ofthe Venezuelan government on social media are mainly under the hashtags #TrumpHandsOffVenezuela and #VenezuelaEnDefensaDeLaPaz (Venezuela In Defense Of Peace). The Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry has shared several posts to show the support received by the Bolivarian government in different countries and cities around the world.

BOGOTA, February 24. /TASS/. Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said on Saturday that President Ivan Duque ordered the trucks with humanitarian assistance for Venezuela to return back from the border with Venezuela.

"Measures were taken upon direct instructions by President Duque. Protecting people in the border zone remains the Colombian government’s priority, therefore, the trucks are returning," the minister told reporters in the city of Cucuta on the Colombian-Venezuelan border.

CARACAS, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets of the capital Caracas on Saturday in defense of peace and Bolivarian revolution.

Supporters of the ruling party gathered to hear President Nicolas Maduro rail against attempted U.S. military intervention under the guise of humanitarian concern.

"Thirty days later, the coup has failed," Maduro said, referring to Jan. 23 when right-wing opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president and launched a push to unseat the president.

CARACAS, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced on Saturday severance of diplomatic and political relations with neighboring Colombia, following the latter one's support for Venezuela's right-wing opposition and military defectors.

"I have decided to break off all types of political and diplomatic ties with the fascist government of Colombia," Maduro told a pro-government rally in Caracas.

Colombia's embassy staff must "leave within 24 hours," he added.

CUCUTA, Colombia (AP) — Venezuela’s National Guard fired tear gas on residents clearing a barricaded border bridge between Venezuela and Colombia on Saturday, heightening tensions over blocked humanitarian aid that opposition leader Juan Guaido has vowed to bring into the country over objections from President Nicolas Maduro.

The opposition is calling on masses of Venezuelans to help trucks carrying the nearly 200 metric tons of humanitarian assistance delivered largely by the United States over the last two weeks across several border bridges in Colombia.

LA PAZ, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Bolivian President Evo Morales warned Friday that any intervention in Venezuela "will only bring war."

"We expect deep reflection for life and humanity; any type of intervention will only bring war. There will not be peace without social justice and without respect to the sovereignty of the people," Morales wrote on his Twitter account.

In another message on Twitter, Morales warned that the humanitarian aid from the U.S. to Venezuela is a "Trojan horse" as a means to invade and provoke a war.

CARACAS, February 22. /TASS/. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido published a decree on Thursday to allow humanitarian assistance into the Bolivarian Republic.

"As a commander-in-chief of the Bolivarian Armed Forces, I again confirm the permission for humanitarian assistance’s entry into Venezuela and order certain units of the Armed Forces to act in line with this permission," the document says.