Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yván Gil welcomes delegates before the start of the Caribbean Regional Seminar of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization, in Caracas, May 15, 2024. Photo: MPPRE.
Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yván Gil stated that it is of fundamental importance to continue the fight “against the persistent evil of colonialism,” adding that unilateral coercive measures are tools of colonial domination aimed at undermining the will of the people and limiting the development of the affected countries.
Minister Gil made this comment on Thursday, May 16, at the closing ceremony of the Caribbean Regional Seminar of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization, held in Caracas. “Venezuela has highlighted the worrying tendency of the current colonial powers to resort to unilateral coercive measures as a new form of domination,” Gil said about Venezuela’s participation at the event.
He stressed that the Caribbean region has strongly condemned the criminal economic blockades that affect everyone and hinder the people’s development.
Largest participation in Caribbean Regional Seminar
In his closing remarks, Minister Gil expressed that it was a great honor for Venezuela to host the 41 delegations that participated in this year’s Caribbean Regional Seminar, the largest participation ever.
“We are living in a global moment in geopolitical history, which is quite complex in the issue of decolonization,” he said.
“Venezuela, as a sovereign country for more than 200 years, is 100% committed to moving forward in the decolonization processes, especially in our Caribbean, where the presence of a colonial regime still persists,” he stressed.
Venezuela is advancing despite sanctions
Foreign Minister Gil expressed his hope that the delegations have been able to observe the reality of Venezuela, a country that, despite imperialist aggression and constant interventionism, is advancing and has been able to survive amid 936 unilateral coercive measures.
Gil stated that the sanctions have impacted all walks of Venezuelan national life, as the Venezuelan state has lost more than $640 billion in income and resources seized abroad.
However, the Venezuelan people’s will to resist and capacity to build new alliances have allowed “us to achieve what you have been able to see in this city, in this country that is standing up, that is moving ahead, that is overcoming, and that has the moral to demand more and more progress towards international justice,” the minister said in an address to the delegations.
Unilateral coercive measures are an extension of colonialism
The Venezuelan foreign affairs minister commented that the “origin” of the US policy regarding unilateral coercive measures cannot be separated from the origin of colonialism.
“The application of unilateral coercive measures is nothing more than an extension of colonialism,” he said. “Today, when the United States tries to govern Venezuela through the application of these measures and the granting of what they call licenses for us to carry out our sovereign economic activity, this is nothing more than a neocolonial practice, which should also be debated at the United Nations and be condemned by its members.”
In this regard, Gil stressed that no country has the right to apply extraterritorial unilateral coercive measures that threaten the well-being of the people. “No country deserves to be a victim of these coercive measures that harm their welfare and progress, threatening human rights,” he said.
“That is why the coercive measures are an issue that goes hand in hand with decolonization,” he continued. “They are practices that they try to impose to dominate, to twist the will of the peoples, to govern economically… It is about imposing rules on us about with which countries we can do business.”
The minister emphasized that this limits development, and if the world wants to make advances in decolonization, it is necessary demand the proscription of unilateral coercive measures as a mechanism of neocolonialism.
Political and social peace
Gil also expressed his hope that the delegations were able to observe the climate of political peace in Venezuela during the electoral process.
He added that on July 28, 37 political parties will participate in the presidential election, demonstrating the plurality of opinions in the Venezuelan political scene.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SF
