On Sunday, Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Minister Felix Plasencia met United Nations Secretary Antonio Guterres in New York to reiterate his country’s commitment to strengthening this multilateral organization.
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“Political collaboration is needed more than ever due to the economic recession and health crisis prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Plasencia said, stressing that the government of President Nicolas Maduro currently holds dialogues with the opposition in Mexico to reach agreements that favor their country.
This meeting followed the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where Maduro condemned the U.S. blockade against his country and urged President Joe Biden’s administration to respect the right to self-determination.
“Besides freezing the assets of the Venezuelan State in foreign banks, the sanctions prevent us from acquiring first-need products and exporting our minerals and oil," Plasencia explained and recalled that this coercive policy caused a 69 percent drop in goods and services imports from 2015 to 2019.
The Venezuelan chancellor also pledged to bring this issue to the UNGA and stressed that nuclear weapons are a threat to humanity that must be defeated. "We invite the governments of the world to work together to guarantee the life and peace of all peoples," he insisted.
Plasencia also pointed out that developing countries face gaps in access to renewable energies to comply with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) since rich countries promote hegemonic non-viable consumption patterns.
“Venezuela urges developed countries to abandon the colonialist vision and cooperate multilaterally for fighting climate change,” he stated, adding that unilateral economic sanctions hamper sustainable development.