Venezuela Condemns Imperialism At Non-Aligned Countries Summit

On Monday, Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Minister Felix Plasencia condemned imperialism and colonialism during the opening session of the ministerial summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which is taking place in Belgrade, Serbia.

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He recalled that Venezuela has always embraced the policy of non-alignment and rejected the logic of imperialism and colonialism. Referring to the creation of the NAM in 1961, Plasencia stressed that this organization has served "as a counterweight against hegemonic, colonialist, and imperialist interests."

The Venezuelan diplomat then recalled that decolonization is a historically unfinished task because "there is still much to do." Before the ministers of the NAM countries, Plasencia denounced the dire consequences generated by the U.S. arbitrary and illegal sanctions against Venezuela.

“Amid the pandemic, they exacerbate the difficulties and undermine national efforts to address this multidimensional emergency,” he said and added that the Venezuelan people have been facing a pandemic that deepens the gaps between the countries of the North and the countries of the South, a pandemic that "does not distinguish between the rich and the poor."

In 1961, Belgrade, then the capital of Yugoslavia, hosted the first conference of the NAM countries which met to ratify their sovereign will at a time when the United States was pressuring developing countries to align with its policy of aggression against the communist countries.

"The Non-Aligned Movement was established during the era of decolonization by numerous developing countries, many of which had recently won their independence, that did not want to opt for one or other military-political blocs of the Cold War and instead chose to pursue an independent foreign policy," the AA agency recalled.

Currently, the NAM has 120 members, among which are countries such as the Bahamas, Barbados, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Peru, and Venezuela.