Maduro Pens Powerful Response to UN High Commissioner

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro penned on July 11th a powerful response to U.N. High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, who accused the government of the Bolivarian Republic of killing nearly 7,000 people.

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President Maduro slammed these allegations from Bachelet, pointing out that these unfounded accusations were harmful to Venezuela and its people. "The report presented by your Office to the Human Rights Council on 5 July has come to my notice. Its content is deeply harmful to the dignity of the Venezuelan people and the truth of the human rights situation in Venezuela. Unfortunately, it is quite clear that you DID NOT LISTEN TO VENEZUELA."

The Venezuelan leader said Bachelet's report was not 'new', as these allegations were made by her predecesser, who sourced false statements and manipulated data to accuse the government of human rights violations. 

Bachelet's allegations took a chapter from the U.S.' rhetoric against Venezuela, which constantly accuses the government of the Bolivarian Republic of being a 'dictatorship' with unfair elections. 

"Your report, unfortunately, aligns itself with the media and political narrative imposed from Washington, that symbolically attack Venezuela by repeating the script of the existence of an alleged dictatorial government and an alleged humanitarian crisis in order to justify an intervention in favor of those who hanker to disappear the Project of Simon Bolivar and purloin our immense natural resources," President Maduro wrote, pointing out, "can a political project legitimized 23 times at the ballot box in the last twenty years be called a dictatorship?"

President Maduro highlighted the fact that the use of "humanitarian crisis" by the United Nations was misleading, as the Western-led blockade on the country has prevented the Bolivarian Republic from billions of dollars worth of food and medicine. 

"Can it be called a “humanitarian crisis” when the United States has deprived Venezuela of more than 30 billion dollars of its oil assets abroad, has blocked and confiscated more than 7 billion dollars allocated to the purchase of food and medicine, it has forbidden servicing the Venezuelan debt and persecutes any company that trades with Venezuela? Can we call this a humanitarian crisis, or should we talk of the illegal, illegitimate and criminal application of unilateral coercive measures aimed to collapse our country smothering it economically as it was done with the Chile of Allende between 1970 and 1973?"

This inhuman blockade, led by the United States, has purposely and unlawfully seized Venezuela's assets in order to force the government into submission. 

Bachelet's report has left out these details and instead, she has mostly resorted to using data and interviews from people living outside of Venezuela. 

"You personally met with a group of relatives of the victims of the political violence inflicted by the opposition. People that were burnt alive just because of the color of their skin or because they seemed to be pro-Government. However, you have not included the slightest reference to this encounter in the report, neither to the dramatic demand for justice made by the relatives to which you committed yourself," President Maduro stated. 

The Venezuelan President concluded his letter by declaring that the Bolivarian Republic will continue to stand victorious in the face of these false accusations. ​​​​​​​"Know that Venezuela will continue standing victoriously that no false report, nor attack regardless of its coarseness, will tamper with our firm determination of continuing to be a free and sovereign people committed to the defense of its legitimate rights."