Venezuela is a tragedy but the United Nations is a joke. The UN’s Human Rights Council is composed of 47-members who are elected to three-year terms by UN members. Today, Venezuela was elected to one of two seats reserved for Latin American nations thanks to support from other socialist states:
Venezuela and regional rival Brazil beat out Costa Rica for the two Latin American seats up for election. Costa Rica had declared its candidacy only this month in an effort to deny Venezuela a three-year term, but the support of China, Russia, Cuba and other allies gave the socialist state the win.
“We celebrate, once again, the Bolivarian diplomacy of peace at the U.N.,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said after the vote. “This victory is historic, since we faced a ferocious campaign.”…High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet has painted a bleak picture of Maduro’s Venezuela. In three reports this year, she documented arbitrary detentions, torture and killings. In July, she said corruption and underinvestment had violated Venezuelans’ right to an adequate standard of living.
Official corruption and mismanagement in the oil-rich nation are blamed for hyperinflation, widespread power outages and shortages of food, water and medicine. Four million people have fled the country in recent years.
The United States resigned from the Council last year to protest its treatment of Israel. US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft condemned the results:
Today’s election of the former Maduro regime in Venezuela to the UN Human Rights Council is an embarrassment to the United Nations and a tragedy for the people of Venezuela.
I am personally aggrieved that 105 countries voted in favor of this affront to human life and dignity. It provides ironclad proof that the Human Rights Council is broken and reinforces why the United States withdrew.
That one of the world’s worst human-rights abusers would be granted a seat on a body that is supposed to defend human rights is utterly appalling.
It’s not hard to see why China, Russia, and Cuba are all supporting this travesty. Maduro is in debt to these nations (including Cuba which provides doctors to Venezuela in exchange for discounted oil).
The socialist petrostate is home to the largest oil reserves on the planet, but endemic corruption has devastated its economy. Beijing and Moscow have helped the country stave off collapse by repeatedly extending financial lifelines — to the tune of tens of billions of dollars over the last decade…
Venezuela owes around $100 billion to its external creditors, including China and Russia. Some reports put the figure higher.
Those agreements gave Russia and China relatively cheap oil — and a foothold in the backyard of the United States — and they supplied Venezuela with much-needed cash.
If the Maduro regime collapses, China and Cuba won’t be able to collect from Juan Guaido. Also, Venezuela is one more vote on the council guaranteed to overlook whatever human rights abuses might be going on in those other socialist/autocratic nations. Birds of a feather really do stick together.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member