Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has demanded this Friday to UN Secretary General António Guterres that Venezuela regain the right to vote in the UN General Assembly despite not paying his country’s dues to the body, claiming that it cannot do so due to U.S. sanctions.
On the occasion of the new endorsement by the UN General Assembly of Cuba against the US embargo achieved last Wednesday –with the vote in favor of a resolution against the blockade by 185 countries– Maduro has congratulated Cuba regretting not having been able to join in the vote.
«Great victory for Cuba, congratulations to the people of Cuba. It is a moral victory, a diplomatic, political victory that gives full, absolute reason to our countries that the U.S. empire must cease its criminal mechanisms of persecution; of torture against the peoples,» the Venezuelan president emphasized in statements reported by the Venezuelan newspaper ‘Ultimas Noticias’.
In this sense, he argued that Venezuela cannot exercise its right to vote in support of Cuba because «the financial blockade imposed by the United States» on the country «prevents it from having bank accounts to pay its dues and obligations at the UN».
«They have taken us out of the voting system, we have the right to speak, but we do not have the right to vote, as a result of the sanctions», Maduro asserted.
Therefore, the Venezuelan president has demanded to Guterres the right of his country to vote in the UN General Assembly, diminished by «the blockade that prevents the payment of the commitments with the multilateral entity», as reported by the aforementioned newspaper.
«It is an obligation, a duty of Guterres to resolve that Venezuela, having the resources, the money, can have the bank account to pay and have the right to vote there at the UN», he stressed.
However, Maduro stressed that, although his country was unable to vote, it did exercise «fully» the right to speak, which is why Venezuela would have stood up «with its truth, with its Bolivarian voice» to say that it is with Cuba and «against the criminal blockade of 60 years that has martyred, tortured and persecuted Cuba».
On Wednesday, for the thirtieth time, Cuba drew the attention of the international community with this symbolic gesture, without direct political repercussions. On an annual basis, it serves to defend its political positions before the UN body in which all member states are represented.
