MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has joined the campaign in support of Venezuela against the actions on the part of the United States, which has declared Venezuela a national security threat.
"We are all Venezuela," Correa said on Saturday as quoted by the Venezuelan TeleSur TV network, adding that what is at issue here is "respect for international law."
On March 9, US President Barack Obama said Venezuela poses a threat to US national security and sanctioned seven Venezuelan officials who Washington believes were involved in human rights abuses during the 2014 mass demonstrations in Venezuela.
Activists in Venezuela have gathered more than one million signatures for a petition calling on Obama to repeal his executive order declaring Venezuela a national security threat.
The Venezuelan government will take the signatures to the Summit of the Americas in Panama scheduled for April 10-11.
The campaign, titled "Obama, Venezuela is not a threat," has been supported by Correa.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has warned that US diplomatic presence in his country could be curtailed amid the United States' attempts to meddle in Venezuela's internal affairs.
On Friday, Venezuela handed a note of protest to the US embassy in Caracas over Obama's executive order.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called Obama's decision "absurd," suggesting that Washington should stop looking for enemies among the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
