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<h1 class="title">UNASUR and CELAC Slam Renewal of US Sanctions
Decree against Venezuela </h1>
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<p class="byline"> By <span class="author">Lucas Koerner</span> </p>
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<div class="block-inner"><b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11878">http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11878</a></small></small></b><br>
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<p>The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Community of
Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) pledged their firm
support for Venezuela Friday in response to the Obama
administration’s renewal of an executive order branding Venezuela
an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security and
authorizing the application of future sanctions.</p>
<p>“The renewal of U.S. unilateral measures against Venezuela is a
disappointment for the 12 UNASUR member states because it violates
the principle of non-intervention, as agreed upon at the
Ministerial Meeting held on March 9, 2015,” stated the South
American regional bloc via its official Twitter account.</p>
<p>The CELAC– which represents all states in the hemisphere with the
exception of the US and Canada– likewise expressed its backing for
the South American nation, according to Venezuelan Foreign
Minister Delcy Rodriguez.</p>
<p>Rodriguez, for her part, also repudiated the move by the Obama
administration, which she characterized as a “flagrant violation
of the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter” and
promised to conduct a “complete review” of relations between the
two countries.</p>
<p>The decree additionally came under fire from Cuban Vice-President
Miguel Díaz-Canel, who pledged his country’s “unconditional
support” to Venezuela.</p>
<p>“This new unjustified action against a peaceful and solidary
sister nation of Our America ignores the indignation and rejection
which this unwonted decree provoked at the VII Summit of the
Americas in Panama,” he stated, referring to near unanimous Latin
American opposition to the executive order at the OAS summit last
April.</p>
<p>The Cuban leader’s remarks come just two weeks prior to President
Obama’s historic visit the island scheduled for March 21.</p>
<p>Executive Order 13692 was signed by President Obama on March 9,
2015 in a move that ignited a global backlash with dozens of
countries and various multilateral blocs– including the CELAC,
UNASUR, ALBA, the Non-Aligned Movement, the G77+China, among
others– demanding the decree’s repeal.</p>
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