August 7, 2019
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez announced on Wednesday that a ship with 25,000 tons of “soy cake” for food production was seized, which was headed to Venezuela as its destination. According to the Venezuelan official, the retention was made “because of the criminal blockade imposed” by US President Donald Trump last Monday.
Rodriguez explained that the owner of the ship was informed by the insurance company that they were prevented from carrying the cargo to Venezuela, “due to the illegal US sanctions.”
The Vice President warned that this act constitutes ” a very serious violation of International Law and the Charter of the United Nations (UN),” she added that it also undermines “the human rights of the entire Venezuelan population, trying to prevent their right to have access to food”.
For that reason, “she says,” Venezuela demands the UN to stop this serious aggression by the Trump administration. ” Rodriguez also blamed the role of Venezuelan deputy Juan Guaidó, who proclaimed himself in January as “president in charge” of Venezuela, after the legislator applauded and promoted the imposition of the blockade by Washington. “Ruffian Guaidó and his criminal gang, an accomplice of the US, will have to respond to history for undermining our sovereignty and the integrity of our people,” said the vice president.
The executive order signed by Trump on Monday states that “all assets and interests owned by the Government of Venezuela that are in the US […] are blocked and cannot be transferred , paid for, exported, withdrawn or handled in any other way”. In addition, according to a statement by the White House security adviser, John Bolton, last Tuesday, the measure “authorizes sanctions to foreign people who provide support, goods or services to any sanctioned person, including the Venezuelan government.” With that, Bolton said, they are “sending a signal to third parties who wish to do business with the Maduro regime”, that they should proceed with extreme caution. “There is no need to risk your business interests with the US in order to benefit from a corrupt and dying regime,” he threatened.
On Tuesday, the Venezuelan ambassador to the UN, Samuel Moncada, explained that Caracas asked the Security Council of that international organization to intervene to condemn US sanctions. He recalled that the UN “has the obligation to take measures” to prevent the violation of international law by a member of the permanent security council, “which obliges the rest of the community to endorse its violation of the law.”
Yesterday the Vice President in another tweet said that,“Venezuela demands the UN to stop this serious aggression from Trump’s government towards our homeland as a massive Human Rights violation against the totality of the Venezuelan population”.
Source: Orinoco Tribune