Geneva.- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet today censoured the new measures announced this week by the US against Nicolas Maduro, who in her opinion could have “a potentially severe impact on human rights” of Venezuelans.” These sanctions are extremely broad and do not contain sufficient measures to mitigate the impact on the most vulnerable sectors of the population,” the human rights officer said in a statement, expressing fears that these measures will affect the Venezuelans’ access to healthcare or food.
The former Chilean president also stated that previous sanctions imposed by the United States in August 2017 and January 2019 “have exacerbated the effects of the serious crisis and by extension of the humanitarian situation”, affecting among other sectors the export of oil to the U.S. market, for years an important source of foreign exchange for Venezuela.The new measures, he added, could cause companies and financial institutions to choose to stop any transactions related to the Government of Venezuela, for fear of being penalized by the United States.” Unilateral sanctions with broad effects can end up negatively affecting people’s fundamental rights, including their economic rights, food and health rights, and may entail barriers to access to humanitarian assistance,” Bachelet opined.
The United States imposed new economic sanctions on Venezuela on Monday night, the toughest to date, involving the blockade of all Venezuelan government assets on U.S. territory.
Donald Trump. Ap
This decision has also prompted the protests of the European Union (EU), which expressed its opposition to the extraterritorial application of such restrictive measures.
Original source in Spanish
