The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR, in Spanish) member nations will meet in Bogota tomorrow to discuss what further measures in can take against the Maduro regime and its officials.
The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on the purpose of the meeting, part of which reads:
During the meeting, the foreign ministers of the member states will move the discussion [on Venezuela] forward and will take decisions to bring an end to Maduro’s illegitimate regime, and to restore democracy to Venezuela.
The TIAR, also known as the Rio Treaty, is a mutual defense treaty that was created in the aftermath of the Second World War to stop the spread of communism in Latin America. Within the context of the current political crisis in Venezuela, the TRIAR has entered the public lexicon as one possible site for international cooperation against the Maduro regime, alongside the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations (UN).
Regime to Mobilize in Protest of TIAR Meeting
The Maduro regime announced today that it would hold rallies in Caracas tomorrow to protest the TIAR meeting in Bogota. The announcement came from a regime official named Dario Vivas, who spoke on the rallies during a televised address:
New Uruguayan President Set to Abandon Montevideo Mechanism
Luis Lacalle Pou, Uruguay’s president-elect, announced today that his government would abandon the Montevideo Mechanism, a diplomatic initiative aimed at resolving the Venezuelan stalemate spearheaded by Uruguay and Mexico as an alternative to the Lima Group.
Lacalle Pou won the country’s presidential election on November 24, and is set to take office in March of 2020. He is replacing Tabare Vazquez, who headed the country for the Partido Socialista de Uruguay (Socialist Party of Uruguay) since 2015.
In announcing Uruguay’s withdrawal from the effort, Lacalle Pou suggested that he did not believe that the diplomatic efforts on Venezuela necessitated yet another organization. He said:
When you atomize diplomacy, it can lose efficacy and efficiency, so the overpopulation of [international diplomatic] entities is not something that is convincing to us, much less when it has an ideological character and goal.
We are a member of the United Nations, the OAS and other groups. We’ll make our voice heard there.
The Montevideo Mechanism is made up of nations that have traditionally been in good terms with the governments of Chavez and Maduro, including Saint Lucia, Antigua & Barbuda, alongside Uruguay and Mexico.
In Venezuela 