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Venezuelan Foreign Minister Carlos Faría said on Wednesday that the U.S. is making political use of human rights against his country by trying to renew the United Nations International Independent Fact-Finding Mission, which presented a report on alleged human rights violations by Venezuelan government agencies.
"If the U.S. had a real interest in human rights, it would immediately lift its blockade against Venezuela. On the contrary, it continues to make political use of them, seeking the renewal of a mission dedicated to promoting false positives and overshadowing the cooperation of the Government with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)," the official wrote in a Twitter message.
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Faría referred to the message published by the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian A. Nichols, who indicated that the U.N. mission reports are an essential tool for accountability for human rights abuses in Venezuela and called for their renewal.
On September 26, the Venezuelan Government issued a statement describing the accusations made by the U.N. report as false and unfounded.
According to the administration of Nicolás Maduro, that mission seeks to attack Venezuelan institutions under the auspices of the U.S., so the Government warned that it would take diplomatic measures against its promoters, considering that the report violates the UN Charter.
In September 2019, the U.N. Human Rights Council established an International Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela for one year to assess alleged human rights violations committed since 2014.
Subsequently, the mission's mandate was extended until September 2022.
The mission's report noted that "Venezuela's State intelligence agencies, both civilian and military, function as well-coordinated and effective structures for the execution of a plan, orchestrated from the highest levels of the Government, to repress dissent through the commission of crimes against humanity."
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