Venezuela calls for alliance of nations against US sanctions

Samuel Moncada has called for cooperation between 29 nations currently under unilateral US sanctions to "mitigate" their effects - just as Iran, Russia and Cuba have helped his country in the past.

Venezuela's ambassador to the United Nations has advocated for the creation of a global pact to undermine unilateral sanctions imposed by Washington, Sputnik reported.

Addressing the UN Security Council on Wednesday via video link, Samuel Moncada proposed three concrete actions, starting with the establishment of an "international alliance against unilateral coercive measures" which would serve as "an operational platform to mitigate their negative impact".

​He also called for redoubled efforts towards a UN General Assembly declaration to promote the lifting of all sanctions, and for the UNSC to regularly address the threat that such measures pose to "international peace and security". 

Moncada denounced the US' imposition of sanctions on 29 UN member states, "contravening the UN Charter and the norms of international law, threatening international peace and violating the human rights of over one-third of humanity, including 30 million Venezuelans."

He stressed how the US uses its economic power to coerce other nations into enforcing its unilateral sanctions. 

"The pursuit of naked self-interest by criminal means is compounded by the weaponization of the worst pandemic suffered by humanity in a century," the representative added. "These illegal measures have been deliberately increased this year, undermining national efforts to control the disease."

"All countries suffering from this type of aggression inflicted by economic means must cooperate to put an end to the suffering of our peoples," Moncada insisted.

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