St. Lucia PM condemns ‘any attempt to overthrow’ Madura!

The opposition United Workers Party in Dominica has called on the island’s government to stay out of the quarrel between the United States and Venezuela, if only in the best interests of thousands of America-based nationals.

The UWP leader Lennox Linton, according to CMC news, has warned that “by unreasonably challenging America’s right to determine if, when, and by whom its national security is threatened” Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is endangering the security of “our own US-based Dominican and other Caribbean brothers and sisters who are dependent on the US government for their protection and the enhancement of their quality of life.”

Linton noted that Skerrit had labeled the US action “unfair and inexplicable” but “made no mention of the US concerns of undemocratic governance, criminalization of legitimate protest action, violation of human rights, public corruption and provocative anti-US diplomatic posturing by Caracas.”

Linton said that Skerrit was attempting to insert his personal agenda into a dispute between two sovereign countries by advocating for America to be deprived of “the same privilege of self-interest independent action that he claims for Venezuela.”

“… Mr. Skerrit has a moral obligation in the enlightened self-interest of Dominica to stay out of this dispute and allow America and Venezuela to sort out their differences.”

This week when pressed for a comment on the dispute between Venezuela and the United States, Saint Lucia’s foreign affairs Minister Alva Baptiste said that Saint Lucia would not be drawn into taking sides in the matter. “We will pursue a reduction of tension to reduce the conflict and to return that relationship to normalcy,” Baptiste said. “We believe that this is not a time to take sides and exacerbate the issue,” he added.

While he has not commented directly on the dispute between the U.S. and Venezuela, in February, Saint Lucia’s prime minister reaffirmed his government’s solidarity with the government of President Nicholas Maduro. “This government believes that when governments are elected by the people, respect must be shown for the will of the people,” Anthony said. “The government of Venezuela was elected by the people of Venezuela in elections witnessed by the entire world. For that reason we have no hesitation in condeming any attempts to overthrow the government of Venezuela and we stand in solidarity with the government of Venezuela.”

Dr. Anthony’s comments were made at the official opening of Saint Lucia’s ALBA bridge in February.