<SYSTEM_TASK:>
Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
<END_TASK>
<USER_TASK:>
Description:

def _run_aws(cmd, region, opts, user, **kwargs):
    '''
    Runs the given command against AWS.
    cmd
        Command to run
    region
        Region to execute cmd in
    opts
        Pass in from salt
    user
        Pass in from salt
    kwargs
        Key-value arguments to pass to the command
    '''
    # These args need a specific key value that aren't
    # valid python parameter keys
    receipthandle = kwargs.pop('receipthandle', None)
    if receipthandle:
        kwargs['receipt-handle'] = receipthandle
    num = kwargs.pop('num', None)
    if num:
        kwargs['max-number-of-messages'] = num

    _formatted_args = [
        '--{0} "{1}"'.format(k, v) for k, v in six.iteritems(kwargs)]

    cmd = 'aws sqs {cmd} {args} {region} {out}'.format(
        cmd=cmd,
        args=' '.join(_formatted_args),
        region=_region(region),
        out=_OUTPUT)

    rtn = __salt__['cmd.run'](cmd, runas=user, python_shell=False)

    return salt.utils.json.loads(rtn) if rtn else ''