The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell. Photo: EFE.
Venezuela condemns the extension of European Union sanctions against officials of the Venezuelan government and warns that it constitutes a slap in the face of the Mexico Talks.
The Venezuelan Ministry for Foreign Affairs. through a statement issued on Saturday, November 12, condemned the decision of the European Union (EU) to renew, for another year, the illegal sanctions against 17 individuals linked to the Venezuelan government for alleged “persistent actions undermining democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.”
“The intention behind this anachronistic decision is to insist on a completely erroneous strategy, with which the EU has not been able, in the last five years, to fulfill its objective of overthrowing the Venezuelan government or separate the Venezuelan people from the political course enshrined in our Constitution,” reads the statement.
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The Venezuelan government, as well as several United Nations special rapporteurs, consider that the illegal sanctions of the United States and the European Union massively harm and violate the human rights of Venezuelans, since their indirect consequences limit access to food, medicine, primary supplies, machinery, spare parts and equipment necessary to guarantee fundamental rights and ensure the normal development of the Venezuelan society.
COMUNICADO | Venezuela rechaza la decisión de la @EU_Commission de renovar, las sanciones ilegales y criminales aplicadas al pueblo venezolano.
Continuaremos defendiendo nuestra soberanía, con base a nuestros principios constitucionales. pic.twitter.com/XnwuEIM8R5— Carlos Faria (@Fariacrt) November 12, 2022
The statement adds that the EU’s decision constitutes “a slap in the face” of the 5th Paris Peace Forum, where representatives of the Venezuelan government and the Venezuelan opposition held a meeting on Friday, November 11, to look for ways to reach an agreement for the resumption of the Mexico Talks. The negotiations were interrupted in October last year, after the US authorities kidnapped the Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab from Cape Verde to the United States, where Saab remains in a Florida jail.
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“We repudiate the insane policy of resorting to these tools of political blackmail, contrary to the principles of democracy and human rights, instituting a dangerous practice contrary to the principles of international law and peaceful coexistence of States,” the statement continues.
The Venezuelan authorities have criticized the evident subordination of the EU to the strategy of the US government, and has called on the countries of the European bloc not to “get carried away by those bad decisions of former US President Donald Trump,” and to exercise their sovereignty.
(HispanTV) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
