THE foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), meeting in Kampala, Uganda, issued a special statement on Wednesday demanding an end to the “irresponsible behaviour” of the United States in the Caribbean.

The statement came after US President Donald Trump revealed that he has authorised his country’s spy agency to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.

The foreign ministers said the situation in the region “has only worsened” since they issued a statement in September about the “deployment of additional extra-regional military forces and resources” by the US, coupled with new “hostile actions, intimidating threats and even more aggressive rhetoric.”

They also called for the US to “desist from irresponsible behaviour.”

The ministers warned that a further deterioration of the situation, or a direct armed attack on Venezuela, would risk a wider conflict throughout the region, undermining its status as a Zone of Peace, declared in 2014 by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

The ministers from NAM, which represents 120 countries, reaffirmed their determination to defend sovereignty, territorial integrity, and non-intervention in the internal affairs of states.

US President Trump confirmed to journalists on Wednesday that he has authorised the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela.

Following a New York Times report a journalist asked President Trump at the White House why he had authorised “the CIA to go into Venezuela.”

Mr Trump said: “I authorised for two reasons. Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the US.

“And the other thing is drugs,” before continuing his baseless allegation that Venezuela is involved in the drugs trade. It is very unusual for a president to comment on CIA activities.

Late on Wednesday President Nicolas Maduro responded, saying: “No to regime change, which reminds us so much of the endless, failed wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and so on.

“No to CIA orchestrated coups d’etat.”