Uruguay Withdraws From TIAR After Activation Against Venezuela

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Rodolfo Nin Novoa, announced the withdrawal of his country from the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR), after its activation on Monday.

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The treaty has been denounced as a means of approving U.S. intervention in Latin America. Nin Novoa commented tuesday saying “We withdrew from the treaty for the obsolete and inappropriate use of it" 

Conservative governments of the region called for the activation of TIAR by arguing that Venezuela is a ‘threat to the region’, and is home to dissident Colombia guerillas, following false claims made by Colombian media. 

However, Foreign Minister Nin Novoa warned that this is a strategy that only aims to legitimize an armed intervention in Venezuela. "We are going to oppose the execution of this mechanism, at least in its extreme phase, which is the direct intervention in the Venezuelan conflict".

The TIAR is an agreement signed in September 1947. It functions as a mutual mechanism of ‘defense’ between member countries of the OAS. The treaty was imposed on the region by the United States within the context of the Cold War, allowing for the regional authorization of military intervention in Latin America for ideological reasons.

Progressive governments in the region do not recognize the U.S.-imposed TIAR. In 2013, ALBA governments such as Venezuela, Bolivia, (formerly) Ecuador, and Nicaragua have also formally withdrawn from the treaty.

Earlier in the month Venezuelan defense minister Vladimir Padrino López stated clearly that the Bolivarian armed forces will defend the country if a TIAR activation leads to war, saying “The Bolivarian armed force will defend Venezuelan territory against the attempts by very powerful interests to destabilize the government, including such attempts by the United States and the right-wing opposition.”