Pompeo Looking for Cause to Start War against Caracas - Venezuelan Minister
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has accused US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of orchestrating the torching of trucks with Venezuela-bound humanitarian aid on the Colombian border and of "desperately" looking for a reason to start a war against Caracas.
"Secretary Pompeo, a CIA [US Central Intelligence Agency] specialist on false flag operations, thinks that he will fool the world with the truck that was set on fire in Colombia by his own agents… Pompeo and his hit men are desperately looking for a cause for war. Today, the operation failed. If you want to find those who burnt the truck with fake humanitarian aid, look for them among your own staff," Arreaza said via his official Twitter feed, Sputnik reported.
Following the incident with the trucks, Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo announced that President Ivan Duque Marquez had ordered the rest of the aid-filled vehicles that had departed for Venezuela, to return to the country.
On 23 February, the US-backed Venezuelan opposition tried to bring in trucks with foreign humanitarian aid to Venezuela from hubs in Colombia and Brazil, despite the legitimate government's refusal to allow the aid in. Upon arrival, several trucks were set on fire on the border with Colombia. Later in the day, Pompeo called the images of the burning trucks "sickening".
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has refused to allow any US-sponsored aid into the country, calling it a "fake show" and accusing Washington of trying to use it as a ploy to oust him from power.
In order to prevent unauthorized deliveries of humanitarian aid, the president earlier in the week closed the land border with Brazil and the sea border with the Lesser Antilles, where aid was being collected as well, and temporarily shut several bridges connecting Venezuela with Colombia.
Russia, which, along with China and several other countries, has endorsed Maduro as the country's legitimate president, has warned that unauthorized deliveries of aid to Venezuela would be a provocation that could be used as a pretext for military action against the legitimate government.
