Venezuela demands the end of sanctions and urges leaders to build a ‘new world’

President Nicolás Maduro on Wednesday said his country was the victim of a “fierce campaign” of permanent and systematic aggression through economic and financial sanctions coming from the United States and its allies.

“Financial accounts are being chased, gold has been seized and blocked from the legal international reserves of the Central Bank of Venezuela in London, billions of dollars in bank accounts have been seized and blocked in the United States, Europe and more”, Mr. Maduro stated.

According to the President, Venezuelan oil companies are being prevented from trading their products and open bank accounts to make commercial transactions.

“It is a financial, monetary, commercial, economic, energy persecution. It is systematic, cruel and criminal. Venezuela raises its voice to denounce it before the peoples of the world”, he added.

Demanding the end of all sanctions against his country, the President, in a pre-recorded address to the UN General Assembly, said he was grateful for the support of the Organization's Member States towards this goal.

Recovery phase

Mr. Maduro said that in 2021, his country had gone from a painful phase to a recovery phase, with sustained growth in science, innovation, technology and “spiritual capacity”.

“We have taken the path of recovery and integral growth for our nation. We have taken the path of deploying the productive forces of a country subjected to an infernal blockade, criminal persecution, and the cruel torture of its economic and social body. And can we say to the peoples of the world with courage, decisiveness, intelligence and wisdom: ‘Yes’, we can face the imperial aggressions and move forward”, he underscored.

The President added that this year has also seen Venezuela advance towards an inclusive peace dialogue, as well as the holding of regional and local elections in November.

“We have started several dialogues with business, social, political and union sectors. We have ratified the path of dialogue… recently we had a national peace and sovereignty dialogue on August 13”, he told the Assembly.

He also announced that with the support of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and the special diplomatic aid of Norway, the Russian Federation, and the Netherlands, his country was addressing a comprehensive agenda to advance in the social and economic recovery.

A new world

Finally, Mr. Maduro called for the “building of a new world”, free of hegemony and based on the principles of multilateralism and international law.

“A new world that emerges from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and from the native peoples of the United States of America. A new world that is reborn to end the old hegemonies, to put an end to the pretense of some to become policemen and judges of all the peoples of the world”, he said, adding that this new world needed a new United Nations as well.

“Venezuela stands up with its own voice for that new world”, he concluded.