Caracas, Feb 15 (EFE). – The Venezuelan government on Thursday suspended the activities of the Caracas office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which opened in 2019, considering that it has “weaponized” its work against the government.
It also ordered the expulsion of 13 UN officials working in Caracas, adding it will conduct a “comprehensive review of the terms of cooperation” in the next 30 days.
Venezuela “demands that the personnel assigned to this office leave the country within the next 72 hours until they publicly rectify before the international community their colonialist, abusive attitude and the violation of the Charter of the United Nations,” said Foreign Minister Yván Gil during a press conference.
The minister explained that the decision was a response to the “inappropriate role that this institution has played,” acting with partiality and as a “private office for coup and terrorist groups that constantly conspire against the country.”
Gil added that the UN office “has maintained a biased and partial position, constantly seeking impunity for those involved in various assassination attempts, coups, conspiracies and other serious attacks against sovereignty and the Constitution.”
However, the Venezuelan official reiterated his “willingness to continue cooperating with international mechanisms for the protection of human rights, always based on genuine dialog and in strict compliance with the principles of objectivity, non-selectivity, impartiality, respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.”
This decision comes a day after the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, expressed serious concerns about malnutrition in Venezuela.
Fakhri also assured that the government prevented him from visiting detention centers and said that the authorities constantly changed his agenda during his two-week visit to the country, which ended on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Venezuela expressed its “deep concern” for the arrest four days earlier of activist Rocío San Miguel, president of the NGO Control Ciudadano, and five of her relatives for “alleged involvement” in a conspiracy to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro. EFE
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