More than a dozen Latin American countries and the United States of America reached a mutual decision on September 23, to investigate officials of Venezuela's government under Nicholas Maduro. The officials have been allegedly involved in crimes including financing terrorism and selling of drugs. The decision was taken keeping the Rio Treaty in mind, which was implemented for the first time since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. 

Pressure on Maduro

Carlos Holmes, Colombia's Foreign Minister, stated that the group of 16 countries voting for the official resolution voted 'yes' in order for them to share financial intelligence to target the accused officials from the Venezuelan government. The resolution saw Uruguay refusing to vote while Trinidad and Tobago abstained from voting with Cuba not being present in the voting session.

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The end objective of the resolution is to identify and stop all illegal money transactions happening through drug trafficking or corruption. Holmes further added that it was a step towards ensuring peace. Nicholas Maduro who is of the opinion that Juan Guaido is pro-Trump, maintains his control in Venezuela with strong backing from the military forces and nations like Cuba, China, and Russia.

The Rio Treaty

The 1947 treaty was an inter-American agreement signed to bind the Republics of the western hemisphere together and act as a mutual system of defence. It further states that danger against even one member will be considered a threat against everyone. Though Venezuela left the treaty in 2013, upon recent request by the interim President to once again be a part of it, it was tentatively accepted by other member states. 

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The Rio Treaty provided for combined support if an act of terror tried to disturb the sense of peace in the western hemisphere. The member states attacked, were given the option of deploying emergency actions that would be analyzed by a meeting of foreign ministers also known as the organ of consultation.

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