Terrorist Attack on Venezuela
Statement by Venezuelan Delegation at Virtual Public Session of United Nations Security Council
Delivered by Samuel Moncada, Permanent
Representative of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United
Nations, May 20, 2020.
 Mr. President,
1. I thank you for convening this meeting to
discuss the
latest events in Venezuela, especially those that occurred on May
3, as well as the imminent threat of an armed attack, an imminent
breach of peace in my country and of all the region if the
aggression continues.
Mr. President,
2. By signing the Charter of the United Nations we
all pledged
to "take effective collective measures to prevent and eliminate
threats to peace, suppress acts of aggression or other breaches
of the peace, and achieve by peaceful means, and in accordance
with the principles of justice and international law, the
settlement of disputes or international situations that may lead
to breaches of the peace." Today, this provision has been
violated, with impunity, and with full contempt for the
Charter.
3. In a letter to the Security Council, dated May
13, 2020, we
demonstrated to the world the armed aggression against my
country,[1]
which, according to public and irrefutable evidence
shared at that time, demonstrated that the governments of the
United States of America and the Republic of Colombia provided
planning, training, financing and, still today, they are
protecting groups of mercenaries and terrorists, who carried out
an armed attack with the objective of perpetrating 1)
indiscriminate killings of innocent civilians; 2) selective
murders against high officials of my government; and 3) the
assassination of President Nicolás Maduro.
4. This is an evident violation of the Charter of
the United
Nations, of international law and of multiple resolutions of this
Security Council, which are legally binding on all Member States.
The governments of Colombia and the United States of America
violated their relevant obligations under international law, in
particular those provided for in the following four (04)
resolutions:
a. Security Council resolution 239 (1967), which
condemns any
State that allows or tolerates "the recruitment of mercenaries
and the granting of facilities to them in order to overthrow the
governments of the Member States of the United Nations."
b. Security Council resolution 1269 (1999), in
which States
are called upon to "prevent and suppress in their territories, by
all lawful means, the preparation and financing of any act of
terrorism."
c. Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), in
which it is
decided that all States should refrain from providing any type of
support to entities or persons participating in acts of
terrorism, including by repressing their recruitment and the
supply of weapons to terrorists, and deny asylum to those who
finance, plan, support or commit acts of terrorism.
d. Security Council resolution 1456 (2003), in
which States
are called upon to "provide mutual assistance, to the greatest
extent possible, to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish
acts of terrorism, wherever they occur," while stressing that
"States must bring to justice those who finance, plan, support or
commit acts of terrorism or provide safe haven, in accordance
with international law, in particular on the basis of the principle to
extradite or prosecute."
5. To this day, the governments of the United
States of
America and Colombia continue to deny any assistance and
cooperation to the competent Venezuelan authorities, in order to
establish the facts and avoid impunity by ensuring that those
responsible are brought to justice. As a result,
these governments violate their obligations under existing
bilateral treaties on mutual legal assistance in criminal
matters. Furthermore, as of today, the United States government
continues to provide a safe haven for people who blatantly
claimed to be the leaders of the last armed incursion against
Venezuela.
Mr. President,
6. Today I must report that operations to capture
the
individuals who participated in this armed aggression are
ongoing, as we are aware of the existence of other groups of
mercenaries and terrorists who were trying to carry out their
criminal plans in other regions of our country. In fact, on May
14 there was an attack against our National Water Supply System,
which in addition to constituting a clear violation of Security
Council resolution 2341 (2017) on the protection of critical
infrastructure against terrorist attacks, confirms the veracity
of the public statements of the criminals who remain at large, in
connection with the preparations for a new attack and the
training of new groups of mercenaries and terrorists. All this
occurs while new evidence continues to be obtained that clearly
points to both Washington and Bogotá, as the main
conspirators
behind the aggression.
7. In addition, there are at least three (3)
additional events
of great concern that I must also report today, since they are
part of the continuous and systematic campaign of aggression
against my country:
a. First, on May 13, the United States government
included
Venezuela on an illegal and unilateral list to falsely blame my
country for not cooperating fully with efforts to fight
terrorism. Nothing is more cynical than an accusation of this
type, which comes only days after the perpetration of an armed
attack with mercenaries and terrorists, with the full support
from U.S. government officials and the direct participation of
U.S. citizens and companies. In addition, the next day, on May
14, a senior Trump administration official told Reuters that the
designation as "terrorist organizations" was being considered for
several Venezuelan security agencies. This is an obvious threat
to the peace and security of my country, since the United States
government is trying to fabricate a narrative which, according to
its supremacist notions, declares its national laws as universal,
that it can take "decisive defensive action" and assassinate
high-ranking officials of the Venezuelan security and
intelligence agencies, and, using its propaganda machinery, later
twist the crime to present it as an anti-terrorist operation. It
is a sad fact of our times that the U.S. government hopes to
openly get away with normalizing the illegal murder of top
national officials around the world through the use of brute
force.
b. Second, as we have denounced in previous
letters to the
Security Council, the United States government has openly
admitted that it is pressuring companies to refrain from
supplying gasoline to Venezuela, which has led to the current
shortage that exists today across the country. In this context,
let me pose the following question: What if, in the midst of the
COVID-19 pandemic, New York City was deliberately deprived of
gas? This, undoubtedly, would count as a crime against humanity,
which is precisely what the government of President Donald Trump
is currently perpetrating against thirty (30) million
Venezuelans. Today, coercion is coupled with a new danger: the
threat of the use of military force against five (5) Iranian oil
tankers with fuel that are headed to Venezuela, violating,
among other things, the freedom of commerce and navigation.
Should the threat materialize, it would constitute actual armed
aggression against an Iranian civilian ship and against the
Venezuelan people as a whole. The government of the United States
insists on presenting itself as our "saviour", claiming to be the
"main donor" of humanitarian assistance to Venezuela and now even
dares to accuse our government of obstructing the provision of
U.S. assistance, when the truth is that all those who are willing
to support our country at this time have been able to do so,
through the relevant United Nations agencies.
c. And third, just under a week ago, on May 13,
the
international media revealed the existence of a "Venezuelan
Reconstruction Unit" within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the British Commonwealth, through which conversations were held
between United Kingdom officials, Venezuelan opposition figures
and the conspirators of the recent armed incursion, promoting the
need for guarantees of preferential status to be given to British
companies in my country after the act of aggression was
successfully carried out. This new evidence that has now come to
light, along with the looting of more than $1.7 billion in
Venezuelan gold by the Bank of England, demonstrates once again
that the British government is an opportunistic accomplice in the
colonial looting of Venezuela's riches. Furthermore, British
warships remain outside our territorial waters, in a hostile and
confrontational attitude, along with Dutch, French and U.S.
warships, conveniently disguised as anti-drug operations, but
actually intended to illegally establish a naval blockade against
our nation. The combination of military provocations with
information operations is a repeat of the old plausible denial
trick used in covert aggression.
Mr. President,
8. On December 14, 1974, the General Assembly
unanimously
approved resolution 3314 (XXIX), which defines aggression as "the
use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty,
territorial integrity or political independence of another State,
or in any other way incompatible with the Charter of the United
Nations," and includes as such acts both "the blockade of the
ports or the coasts of one State by the armed forces of another
State" and "the sending by or on behalf of a State, of armed
bands, groups, irregulars or mercenaries, which carry out acts of
armed force against another State." This text, which perfectly
fits the description of the most recent events in Venezuela, also
recognizes that no consideration of whatever nature may serve as
justification for an act of aggression.
9. For this reason, while urging the Security
Council to
fulfill the duties and responsibilities entrusted to it by the
Charter of the United Nations in relation to the maintenance of
international peace and security, we ask it to determine once and
for all not only the threat that the warmongering policies of the
governments of Colombia and the United States of America pose to
the peace of both Venezuela and the entire region, but also to
recognize the acts of aggression that have been committed against
my country and demand that the perpetrators put an immediate end
to their criminal practices, including the use or threat of the
use of force and the commission of new armed attacks, including
through the use of mercenaries and terrorists.
10. The United States government and its allies
are
creating a
lawless space in international relations where they can disregard
their obligations under international law and impose tyrannical,
arbitrary, and colonial practices on the rest of the world. Thus,
the supremacy of their national interest justifies the most
abominable crimes, such as the case of protecting the "good
terrorists and mercenaries" who attacked Venezuela if they serve
the expansion of U.S. power. The Security Council must enforce
the notions of morality and legality in international relations,
under the principle that "no consideration of any nature, be it
political, economic, military or otherwise, can serve as
justification for aggression." That is the only way to promote
peace and security among nations.
11. Today, in the midst of a deadly pandemic that
affects all
of humanity and that requires the full attention of our national
government to protect the lives of our people, we are also facing
an imminent armed attack that, due to its genocidal effects, is
equivalent to a crime against humanity. Given the gravity of the
situation and its potential escalation, the inaction of the
Security Council at this juncture will embolden those governments
to continue with their warmongering and criminal plans, as has
been the case so far, considering the fact that
the Governments of Colombia and the United States have doubled
their aggression against Venezuela, in contempt of international
law and the Charter of the United Nations, and in a demonstration
of its unrepentant and repeated nature.
12. Let me conclude by insisting that our country
does not
pose a threat to anyone and hopes that everyone will learn this
lesson: Venezuela is not for sale, it will never be a colony and
our people, with serenity and determination, will fulfil our duty
to be free.
Thank you very much, Mr. President
Note
1. To
read the Letter to the President of the Security Council from Samuel
Moncada, Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela to the United Nations, click
here.
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