EXCLUSIVE: If There’s a Threat On This Continent, It’s the US - Ecuador FM

Citing unrest in Venezuela, Obama issued an executive order on March 9 declaring that country to be national security threat and announcing sanctions against seven officials, marking a high point in tensions between the two countries since President Nicolas Maduro took office two years ago following the death of Hugo Chavez.

The response from Maduro and other Latin American leaders was swift and, for the most part, unified in vocal opposition to the move by the US.

Even Raul Castro of Cuba — whose country is in the midst of a historic normalization of relations with the US — criticized the order, denouncing "the violation of sovereignty or the damage of peace with impunity in the region."

The twelve-country Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) condemned Obama’s executive order as well, calling for its retraction.

Shortly afterward, leaders of the member states of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) met in Caracas, and drafted a formal response to the executive order, firmly rejecting it as a "threat of interference that runs counter to the principle of sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of states."

Patiño, in his turn, called Obama’s order "a decree that in no way favors good relations between countries on the same continent."

Sputnik: What came of the ALBA summit?

Patiño: “In that meeting, we couldn't even conceive of, much less tolerate, the idea that Venezuela is a threat to the US. Where is the threat? There isn't the slightest possibility of being a threat.

“They're a trade partner of the US, they sell them oil every day, there are all sorts of relations — commercial, tourist — between the two countries. That's why the order doesn't make the least bit of sense, doesn't have the least basis.

“[During recent violence and protest in Venezuela] there has clearly been an attempt to impose violent conditions made by some violent groups. We're not talking about all the opposition — there is democratic opposition, who we spoke with at the UNASUR commission. But there are also violent groups, that, when you ask them, when they are interviewed, ‘Why are you out here?’ — ‘We're here in the street until Maduro leaves.’ They want Maduro out by elections or, if not, by force.

“The Venezuelan revolution isn't going to come to an end through external meddling. And it's not their place to put an end to the Bolivarian revolution, but to respect each country.”

Sputnik: How do you respond to those that say that Latin American leaders are overreacting, talking about invasion and conspiracy, when it's just formal language to impose limited sanctions?

Patiño: "When a government says something, when the president signs something, when he uses 'I', 'I, the President of the United States, Barack Obama', you can't say it's just a formality. Just to take measures.

"The problem is that, often, that decision, those orders, have been a prelude to military interventions. We know that — like Afghanistan, like Iraq, and other countries — that they were considered a threat and then invaded. They aren't always invaded. Sometimes not. But often it's just this justification that's given for intervention.

"Because, if I consider you a threat to me, I must act to stop that threat…That's why the terms he uses are so serious."

Sputnik: White House spokesperson Jen Psaki recently called accusations of conspiracies leveled by Nicolas Maduro against the US "ludicrous" and cited a "long-standing policy" of not backing coups or other non-democratic transitions of power. How do you respond?

Patiño: "We in Latin America have a long-standing tradition of US intervention. We know it. By heart and forever. For all of the 20th century, and even the 19th century, with the first interventions by the filibusters, as they were called, in Nicaragua.

"But in the 20th century: The Dominican Republic, Grenada, Panama, Chile. Not just military interventions, but we're talking about dictatorships, imposed by political powers in the United States. Chile, Argentina, Uruguay.

"In our country, in Ecuador, in 1963: We had a lovely tradition of democracy, economic progress and, as a result of CIA actions, a dictatorship broke that democracy to pieces… It's a shame, but the US longstanding tradition is one of intervening, invading, abusing and producing dictatorships in our region.

"If there is a threat on this continent, it is the United States. They're the only one that can be considered to be such from historical experience. They are a threat to our countries. And, despite that, we still believe they can change, someday, we know it's difficult."