Venezuela’s Arreaza Denounces Nuclear Arms as ‘Crime Against Humanity’ at UN

As western powers increase their aggressive discourse towards Venezuela, the country's foreign minister reinforced his country's commitment to peace at the UN in Geneva.

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Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told the United Nations his country “reiterates its commitment to promote general disarmament.”

“The use and threat of nuclear weapons violate the principles of the United Nations Charter and represent a crime against humanity,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has told the United Nations in Geneva.

Speaking at the Ministerial Session of the Conference on Disarmament of Nuclear Weapons at the U.N. headquarters in Switzerland, Arreaza said Venezuela “reiterates its commitment to promote general disarmament… in order to guarantee international peace and security.”

The U.N. nuclear disarmament commission was established in 1952. It’s the sole body within the international organization that continuously negotiates agreements on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Speaking earlier this week at the Non-Aligned Movement meeting, of which Venezuela is a member, Arreaza called for dialogue between different cultures and respect for diversity as tools capable of promoting peace.

He also stressed his country’s willingness to “maintain respectful relations with all nations” and rejected the “interference of imperial elements in Venezuela’s internal affairs.”

During his visit to Switzerland, Arreaza also met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The two discussed matters of mutual concern, geopolitical scenarios, as well as ways to strengthen strategic ties between the two countries.

Arreaza’s working agenda at the United Nations this week began in Geneva on Monday when he participated in the 37th High-Level Meeting Segment of the Human Rights Council. During his speech he denounced sanctions imposed on Venezuela by the United States and Europe Union. Those sanctions target 30 top Venezuelan officials, including President Nicolas Maduro, which make foreign debt renegotiation, according to Arreaza, more difficult.

“It is regrettable that the European Union is put to the tail’s end of U.S. imperialism. It is regrettable that the European Union has issued a series of restrictive measures against Venezuelan citizens, officials, but also presidents of public powers, that is, against Venezuela and its democratic institutionality democratic,” Arreaza said during the II Forum of Cooperation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and China.