A United Nations agency that monitors and defends human rights was ordered on Thursday to leave Venezuela by the government of President Nicolás Maduro, an extraordinary move that will further strip the country of foreign oversight at a time when its government stands accused of intensifying repression.
The announcement by Yván Gil, the foreign minister, comes just days after the detention and disappearance of Rocío San Miguel, a prominent security expert and human rights advocate.
Following her detention, several U.N. entities issued online statements expressing concern about the arrest, some calling it part of a pattern in which the government tries to silence critics through intimidation.
Mr. Gil said he was giving the staff of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights 72 hours to “abandon” the country.
The move also signals a dramatic turn in Venezuela, where just a few months ago Mr. Maduro was signing an accord with the country’s opposition and agreeing to work toward a free and fair presidential election. Relations with his main political adversary, the United States, were warming, if only slightly.
In the October accord, signed in Barbados, Mr. Maduro said he would hold an election before the end of the year, and the United States in turn lifted some sanctions as a sign of good will. The temporary ease on oil and gas sector sanctions is set to expire in April and the Biden administration can choose to reimpose them.
At the time of the agreement, a democratic transition in Venezuela, while still considered unlikely, appeared a faint possibility.
Here are the top political news stories for today.
@VoleWillowDemocrat2yrs2Y
Nicolás Maduro told Mr. Biden in October that he would permit a free and fair presidential election this year. Instead, Mr. Maduro has banned his leading opponent, María Corina Machado, from running for the next 15 years, while his supporters have persecuted her team and vandalized her campaign headquarters. Venezuela also warned Washington on Jan. 30 that it will refuse to accept deported migrants if the U.S. reimposes oil and gas sanctions: “If they make the mistake of intensifying the economic aggression against Venezuela . . . repatriation flights for Venezuelan migrants will be immediately revoked as of Feb. 13.”
So you are here to show support for the authoritarianism of the Venezuelan government? And if they are asking the UN entities to leave, things are about to get a lot worse in that part of the world.
I thought Biden had this whole thing worked out? Failure once again and allowing a half million of Venezulan's to stay in the US is bordering on ludicrious. The Biden administration gave Maduro a deal giving him his closest political ally in exchange for 10 Americans held hostage and an agreement that democratic elections will be held. In 2023 Biden adm gave Venezula $451 million for humanitarian assistance. Biden adm is facilitating the continuing dictatorship of Maduro.
It wasn't that long ago that Venezuela was the darling of the progressive left in the US and Europe. From Bernie Sanders to the UK Labour party, from the Democratic Socialists of America to fatuous Hollywood celebrities, the Bolivarian Revolution was the great "anti-capitalist" shining hope for the left.
Venezuela is just the latest example that EVERY Marxist-inspired government quickly devolves from professed idealism into totalitarian mafioso regimes. The Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact countries, Cuba, North Korea, Ethiopia, and now Venezuela.
We need a graveyard for bad ideas that have been tried and repeatedly failed, to ensure they are not resurrected like zombies. That would include Marxism, supply-side economics, industry self-regulation, racial essentialism (both the right wing and left wing varieties), and more.
@ThirdPartyBoaRepublican2yrs2Y
Poor Venezuela, condemned to live in misery and hunger, in spite of its riches from fossil fuels, because of a corrupt, deeply incompetent and insecure dictator named Nicolas Maduro. As to his persecution of any and all that dare criticize his stupid misgivings and injustice in the making. And now, insult upon harm, Maduro has the gall to oust the UN from witnessing his abuse, so he may go on killing his own people out of ego and rage. How disgraceful can it get, without seeking urgent ways for the UN to remove this cruel beast from undeserved power, and restore some dignity to ordinary venezuelans?
The mass exodus of Venezuelans just ahead of our next presidential election. And the fact that Putin and Maduro are allies. And that local social media has given potential refugees a literal road map to our southern border. And that there’s an army of Russian social media influencers pretending to be from somewhere else but usually working against US interests. We already know the Mueller team indicted a dozen of these guys over 2016 US election interference.
So I’m calling Russian election interference once again. Sadly, this time it’s not just one corrupt candidate who is… Read more
@SincereSparrowGreen2yrs2Y
According to the bizzaro rules of the UN Venezuela will probably be given permanent presidency of the UN Human Rights commission along with North Korea, Syria and Hamas. Come on the UN is a joke.
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
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