Venezuela’s government tried to defend itself Tuesday at a United Nations human-rights session, saying international sanctions are to blame for its social problems, but the argument was buried under the repeated concerns voiced by member countries about the claims of torture, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings taking place in the South American country.
Talking via video before the U.N.’s Human Rights Council, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez assured members that her country has made progress in protecting the rights and freedoms of its population, before accusing the United States and other nations sanctioning the Nicolas Maduro regime of accentuating the suffering and social ills plaguing the oil-rich nation.
“We are going to continue reviewing these recommendations (to improve the human rights situation) and we are grateful to those countries that in good faith have expressed their recommendations to Venezuela, always with an understanding of what it has meant for a people... to overcome a blockade of the dimension that Venezuela has known,” Rodríguez said.
