During a press conference with international media during his visit to the city of Moscow, Russia, the People’s Power Minister for Foreign Relations of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza, explained this Thursday the extension of the lawsuit before the International Criminal Court (CPI), on the unilateral coercive measures applied by the US government against the Venezuelan State.
Foreign Minister Arreaza, who traveled to the Eurasian country to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, took the opportunity to speak about the delivery of additional documentation denouncing the illegal imposition of unilateral coercive measures, whose effects constitute crimes against humanity, as a complement to the request filed before the International Criminal Court, last February 13 in The Hague, Netherlands.
On that occasion, the referral was recorded with all the legal explanation and basis of the jurisdiction necessary to carry out this investigation with contentive elements that make up the case before the ICC.
In the framework of this complaint, the Venezuelan diplomat stamped his signature in the letter that was delivered to the ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, on June 23 in The Hague, through which the scope of the unilateral coercive measures in the middle of COVID-19 is exposed.
The letter also compiles the calls of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, rapporteurs for food, external debt, equitable and democratic order; of the International Red Cross, as well as the pronouncements that different governments have made along with regional organizations before the illegal sanctions against Venezuela, Iran and the criminal blockade against Cuba.
He explained that the context frames the claims of Secretary Pompeo to impose on Venezuela a project of life, a transition from government to democracy, creating councils that are not established in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
“Wanting to violate the laws and ignoring the authority of the elected president, Nicolás Maduro, to the point of carrying out a military deployment under the pretext of the fight against drug trafficking, when they really know that such illicit substances are elaborated and prepared with a route to the Pacific.”
He noted that in March 2020, a complete file was forwarded on the “laws”, misnamed sanctions, executive orders and laws of the US Congress, signed by Barack Obama and current President Donald Trump, which constitute this scaffolding of legal aggression against Venezuela.
On the other hand, he stressed that the report also contains the most recent attacks against 5 captains who commanded the Iranian ships to transfer fuel to Venezuela.
Cessation of unilateral coercive measures
Likewise, the Foreign Minister detailed to the media that a large part of the international community has proposed the suspension or parenthesis of unilateral coercive measures in the midst of the pandemic for the good of humanity, and to allow governments that are currently objects of aggression, to freely use their resources for social care.
He took advantage of mentioning the blockade of millions of dollars in the US and Europe, as well as the frozen tons of gold at the Bank of England, where a judicial process has been carried out.
“Those resources belong to the people of Venezuela, not to the United States, the Federal Reserve or the Venezuelan opposition, these are aimed at addressing the main social needs, and the Bolivarian Government is prevented from having access to goods to advance in the protection that our people deserve”, he added.