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Venezuela blasts UN rights report as ‘riddled with falsehoods’

Thursday, 17 September 2020 7:23 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 17 September 2020 7:23 AM ]

Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza addresses the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council’s main annual session in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 25, 2020. (Photo by AFP)

The Venezuelan government has censured as “riddled with falsehoods” a United Nation (UN) report that accused President Nicolas Maduro and other officials of being responsible for rights violations.

In a 411-page report published on Wednesday, the so-called International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela claimed that Venezuelan security services had been engaged in a pattern of “systematic” violence and allegedly had been suppressing political opposition since 2014.

The report accused Venezuelan officials of “egregious violations” and claimed it had “evidence of unlawful executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture” in the Latin American country.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza categorically rejected the UN accusations in a tweet on Wednesday and said the report had been compiled remotely by a mission that was controlled by governments taking orders from the United States.

The report “is riddled with falsehoods, it was drawn up remotely without methodological rigor by a phantom mission directed against Venezuela and controlled by governments that are subservient to Washington,” Arreaza said.

He said the UN report “illustrates the perverse practice of politicizing human rights rather than making human rights policy.”

The top Venezuelan diplomat said the countries that censured Caracas over rights violations had “awful” records of rights abuses and their main objective was to damage Venezuela’s relationship with the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Maduro government has adamantly dismissed allegations of human rights violations.

In a decree earlier this month, the Venezuelan president granted legal pardon to more than 100 members of the opposition in an effort to promote political reconciliation in the Latin American country. Some of the individuals released had been involved in serious crimes such as participation in a coup against the government.

Venezuela's Guaido defends US sanctions against Maduro

Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido has been slammed for defending US sanctions against the country.

Venezuela experienced political turmoil when opposition figure Juan Guido unilaterally declared himself “interim president” of the country in January last year. He was immediately recognized by the administration of US President Donald Trump. Guaido later staged a botched coup against the Venezuelan government.

The elected government of Maduro has exercised leniency with Guaido, however, negotiating with his representatives to resolve the political issues in the country.

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