“Sanctions are a crime; they constitute crimes against humanity as they systematically violate human rights, and the Venezuelan people have been victims of this policy of aggression, of this predatory policy against human right in our country,” denounced on Thursday the Venezuelan Vice-president Delcy Rodríguez.
In her statement at the international academic conference “Unilateral Coercive Measures: Disrespect for International Law, Serious Human Consequences,” Rodríguez said these measures have terrible effects on the population and the peoples’ sustainable development.
“It’s an absolutely global violation of International Law and the Charter of the United Nations,” she said.
She explained Venezuela is one of the 30 countries under blockade, ranking 5th with the highest number of sanctions applied by hegemonic powers.
“We can see the nature, the political motivation of the system of unilateral coercive measures, whose geopolitical goal is a regime change in those countries that are not submissive to Washington, imperial powers or the West,” said the Vice-president.
Venezuela has been deprived of over $100 billion in the last 5 years due to sanctions imposed on its oil industry and the blockade against its oil in the world.
Rodríguez used some figures to explain the damage caused to her country. In the last 5 years, Venezuela have lost 99% of foreign earnings and $100 billion in oil sales. Before the imposition of unilateral coercive measures, the country received $65 billion per year, while in 2020 it barely made $740 million.
“It was a 99% decline in incomes, a terrible drop that has been only experienced by countries in war,” she said.
In addition, Rodríguez explained that these unilateral coercive measures have had a negative impact on the infrastructure of public services, the public health system, and food distribution and production, a situation that led “our people to reinvent themselves.”
“Ours is a people with a high political consciousness and aware of the historical significance of Venezuela’s role in Latin America and the world as an independent voice and a counterweight against hegemony,” she said.
Vice-president Delcy Rodríguez stressed that Venezuela is the second country with the highest number of sanctioned airplanes, the fifth country with the highest number of sanctioned companies and the seventh with the highest number of sanctioned individuals, and urged those countries victims of blockades to unite.
“There are 30 sanctioned countries, and the list can go on. Our call is for the rest of the countries to join our voices and work together,” she urged.
Finally, the Venezuelan vice-president highlighted that despite the criminal blockade imposed by imperial governments against her homeland, the Venezuelan people and the Government of President Nicolás Maduro have created new mechanisms to protect the population, uphold social rights and strengthen Venezuela’s social inclusive model.