Venezuela Lost Over $30 Billion Due to the US Blockade
By teleSUR
22 February 21
President Maduro denounced the continuous attacks against his country and
recalled that those resources could have been used to fight the pandemic.
At the 46th session of the United Nations, Human Rights Council (HRC) held
on Monday, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro repudiated the unilateral
sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union on his country
and recalled that they have contributed to exhausting the epidemiological
crisis.
"The U.S. has applied over 450 unilateral coercive measures, which have
caused economic damages for over US$30 billion, which could have been used
to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve better living standards for
Venezuelans," said Maduro.
His statements were previously backed up by United Nations Human Rights
expert Alena Douhan, who recently visited Venezuela and rendered a report on
the negative impact of U.S. sanctions on this South American nation.
Although the U.S. blockade is a major obstacle in the fight against
COVID-19, Venezuela has managed so far to keep the virus transmission under
control.
Besides recognizing the importance of the World Health Organization (WHO) to
face the global pandemic, the Venezuelan President ratified multilateral
approaches are the most effective solution to overcome it since it is a
problem that equally affects everyone.
Therefore, Maduro called on world leaders to join forces and put aside
selfish and individualist behaviors when addressing the COVID-19 vaccine
distribution.
As of Monday morning, Venezuela had reported 136,068 COVID-19 cases and
1,316 related deaths.