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VENEZUELA-POLITICS-UN-RIGHTS
UN rights chief says sanctions have worsened Venezuela crisis
GENEVA, March 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Sanctions have “exacerbated” the crisis
in Venezuela, the UN human rights chief said Wednesday, after the United
States warned it may expand the measures it has imposed targeting President
Nicolas Maduro’s government.
In her annual report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, rights
chief Michelle Bachelet also levelled tough criticism at Maduro.
“Venezuela clearly illustrates the way violations of civil and political
rights – including failure to uphold fundamental freedoms, and the
independence of key institutions – can accentuate a decline of economic and
social rights,” said Bachelet, the former president of Chile.
Venezuelans, battered by an economic meltdown and a major political
crisis, are struggling to access basic goods including food and medicine.
“This situation has been exacerbated by sanctions,” Bachelet said.
Washington, which has recognised Venezuela’s opposition chief Juan Guaido
as the country’s leader, imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil company
PDVSA last month.
It has also handed Guaido control of Venezuela’s bank accounts in the
United States.
The US envoy for the crisis in Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, said Tuesday
that Washington was weighing more punitive measures to increase the pressure
on Maduro.
Washington has not ruled out so-called “secondary sanctions” that could
target foreign companies or other states that do business with Maduro’s
government.
Venezuela is wracked by a humanitarian crisis that has seen poverty soar,
with an estimated 2.7 million people leaving the country since 2015.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1720HRS