title: Lavrov to Trump: ‘Do Not Attack Venezuela’
text: 21st Century Wire says Last Friday, President Donald Trump appears to have temporarily lost his mind by suggesting that the US may act militarily against Venezuela. The rationale (or irrationale) seems to be that (US-backed) protests against the rule of President Nicolas Maduro are destabilizing the country and therefore, the US must intervene if Maduro does not  go . It was shades of the last 7 years of US and western anti-Syrian  regime change  rhetoric. Washington will not stand by as Venezuela crumbles,  he said.Vice President Mike Pence is on a four-nation Latin American tour, where he expressed his concern that Venezuela will trigger regional instability in South America.Meanwhile, other Latin America countries have now rallied around Venezuela after Trump s off-handed comments. This has been somewhat of an own goal by Trump who seems to have now united Latin America in support of Venezuela   and against the United States.Venezuela foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, urged Venezuelans to resist America s  insolent foreign aggression . The reckless threats of President Donald Trump aim to drag  Latin America and the Caribbean into a conflict which would permanently alter the stability, the peace and the security of our region,  said Arreaza.To compound Washington s problems on the issue, Russia has now also weighed in The DuranSergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister was speaking with his Bolivian counterpart when the issue of Venezuela arose. Bolivia is one of Venezuela s closest regional allies along with Cuba.Sergey Lavrov responded to threats made by Donald Trump against Caracas when the US President threatened the use of military action against the oil rich South American country. Venezuela has called Trump s threats  crazy  and a threat to the sovereignty of the country.Today, Lavrov stated: We are united in the need to overcome the existing disagreements in the country by peaceful means through a nationwide dialogue as soon as possible, without any external pressure, not to mention the unacceptability of the threats of military intervention in the internal affairs of this country .Recently Mercosur, a bloc of nations covering the majority of South America condemned any attempts by the US to stage a war against Venezuela. This included countries who themselves have disagreements with Caracas. Today, Lavrov cited this as an example of widespread opposition to any war on Venezuela.READ MORE: South America opposes Trump s military threat against VenezuelaThis is Russia s strongest condemnation of the threat of war against Venezuela to-date.READ MORE VENEZUELA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Russia FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV