April 2, 2020
Statement of the Network in Defense of Humanity against the Recent Threats and Unfounded Accusations by the United States against the Government and People of Venezuela
The Network in Defense of Humanity categorically rejects the intentions of the U.S. government to once again attack the people of Venezuela with threats and unfounded accusations trying to link the legitimate president, Nicolas Maduro and Venezuelan state authorities, with drug trafficking.
In a desperate manner, after 20 years of attempts to overthrow the democratic and peaceful Bolivarian Revolution, they seek to justify the invasion of Venezuelan territory by violating, as they always have done, the norms of international law. Trump announced anti-drug operations and the deployment of ships in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific, focusing particularly on Venezuela, whose government, according to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, depends on the profits derived from the sale of narcotics.
The whole world knows that Venezuela is not among the countries that produce, traffic or consume drugs. It does not appear in the statistics of the recent reports of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for the year 2019. It is only listed as the country with the highest number of narcotics seizures.
It’s Colombia, not Venezuela, the biggest cocaine producer on the planet. Of the 245,400 hectares of cocaine that were cultivated in 2017, 69.68 percent, or 171,000 hectares, were on Colombian territory. Colombia is also the largest producer of 100% pure cocaine: of the 1,970 tons produced in 2017, 1,379 tons were manufactured in that country. It is through the Pacific and Central America that the largest traffic of cocaine to the United States is registered, according to the report.
We welcome the fact that the United States has finally dedicated itself to combating drug trafficking, especially since it accounts for 38% of the world’s cocaine consumption and 24% of marijuana consumption worldwide. At the same time, we suggest that Donald Trump review and adjust the coordinates of his ships to ensure success in seizing narcotics by redirecting them to Colombia, the main narco-state in the region, that would put an end to one of the main unusual and extraordinary threats affecting the security and peace of the entire Americas.
The members of the Network in Defense of Humanity call on the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, as well as the United Nations in general, to demand that the U.S. government adopt a responsible attitude towards one of the many ills afflicting humanity, such as the production, trafficking and consumption of drugs, which, according to the organization’s own estimates, caused the death of some 585,000 people worldwide in 2017 alone, mainly young people. We ask the United Nations to call on the US government to stop using such a serious scourge for political purposes, including for the purpose of war against the sovereign people of Venezuela.
At this time of pandemic, we also call on the governments and peoples of the world to focus our efforts in solidarity to combat this invisible enemy. We particularly invite the U.S. government to do the same and join the fight to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which has found a new epicenter in its territory, causing a humanitarian crisis that adds up to more than 220,000 infected Americans and more than 5,600 deaths to date.
Network in Defense of Humanity, April 1, 2020