The US demands the Venezuelan Regime to end human rights abuses

The United States demands Nicolás Maduro’s regime to end human rights abuses in Venezuela and resume political negotiations with the opposition.

The spokesman for the U.S. Department of State, Ned Price, supported the dialogue between the Maduro regime and the opposition. It will “lead to the peaceful restoration of the democracy that Venezuelan people want and deserve,” he said at a press conference.

The negotiations “should help end human rights abuses by the regime and relieve Venezuela’s humanitarian suffering, ending a crisis that has dragged on for too long,” Price said.

During a press conference two days ago, the Venezuelan regime announced that the Chavista delegation would not attend the negotiation rounds that were to begin on Sunday due to the extradition of Maduro’s frontman, Alex Saab, to the United States. 

“Venezuela will defend our delegate Alex Saab with all available legal and diplomatic resources, and will take his case to all multilateral human rights organizations,” said the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez.

The withdrawal of the Chavista delegation from the negotiations is an act of protest “in face of the brutal aggression against the person and the investiture of our delegate Alex Saab Moran,” added Rodriguez.

It is “very clear that [the regime] is putting its interest above that of the Venezuelan people” and is giving more importance to “the case of an individual instead of the welfare and livelihood of millions of citizens,” said Price.

Venezuelans have made very clear their aspirations for democracy, liberty, and prosperity, and are waiting to be “relieved from the humanitarian suffering that the regime has inflicted on them,” reiterated Price. 

The regime accuses the U.S. of “violating” human rights

The Maduro regime rejected Price’s statement, arguing that the U.S. government “operates as a powerful machine that systematically violates human rights and permanently violates international law at a global level.”

“The United States, the protector of the Venezuelan political extremist class, has falsely and immorally acted by pretending to speak on behalf of the Venezuelan people, when in reality it has massively and systematically violated the human rights of our people,” said the regime.

When it comes to Saab’s extradition, the Chavista leadership claims that Washington took “an illegal action” by violating the decision of the UN Human Rights Committee that urged Cape Verde to “refrain from extraditing the Venezuelan diplomat.”

Venezuelan authorities called the extradition a “kidnapping” and described it as “one of the most serious aggressions in the history of Venezuela.”