Jeffrey Sachs criticized the US for breaching the UN charters in forcibly seizing and taking Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro out of his own country. Sachs, president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, spoke at the UN Security Council’s emergency meetings on Venezuela on Monday. “Since 1947, the United States foreign policy has repeatedly employed force, covert action, and political manipulation to bring about regime change in other countries. This is a matter of carefully documented historical record,” he said. “Since 1989, major United States regime change operations undertaken without authorization by the Security Council have included, among the most consequential, Iraq 2003, Libya 2011, Syria beginning in 2011, Honduras 2009, Ukraine 2014, and Venezuela from 2002 onward. The methods employed are well established and well documented.” He said “Peace and the survival of humanity depend on whether the United Nations Charter remains a living instrument of international law or is allowed to wither into irrelevance.”
00:05Mr. President, distinguished members of the Security Council,
00:10the issue before the Council today is not the character of the government of Venezuela.
00:15The issue is whether any member state, by force, coercion, or economic strangulation,
00:22has the right to determine Venezuela's political future or to exercise control over its affairs.
00:30This question goes directly to Article 2, Section 4 of the United Nations Charter,
00:35which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.
00:42The Council must decide whether that prohibition is to be upheld or abandoned.
00:47Abandoning it would carry consequences of the gravest kind.
00:51Let me offer some background.
00:54Since 1947, the United States foreign policy has repeatedly employed force,
01:00covert action, and political manipulation to bring about regime change in other countries.
01:06This is a matter of carefully documented historical record.
01:10In her book, Covert Regime Change, political scientist Lindsay O'Rourke documents 70 attempted U.S. regime change operations
01:18between 1947 and 1989 alone.
01:22These practices did not end with the Cold War.
01:25Since 1989, major United States regime change operations undertaken without authorization by the Security Council
01:33have included, among the most consequential, Iraq 2003, Libya 2011, Syria beginning in 2011,
01:43Honduras 2009, Ukraine 2014, and Venezuela from 2002 onward.
01:51The methods employed are well-established and well-documented.
01:55They include open warfare, covert intelligence operations, instigation of unrest, support for armed groups,
02:03manipulation of mass and social media, bribery of military and civilian officials,
02:08targeted assassinations, false flag operations, and economic warfare.
02:13These measures are illegal under the U.N. Charter, and they typically result in ongoing violence,
02:20lethal conflict, political instability, and deep suffering of the civilian population.
02:27The recent U.S. record with respect to Venezuela is also clear.
02:31In April 2002, the U.S. knew of and approved an attempted coup against the government.
02:37In the 2010s, the United States funded civil society groups actively engaged in anti-government protests.
02:44When the government cracked down on the protests, the U.S. followed with a series of sanctions.
02:50In 2015, President Barack Obama declared Venezuela to be, and I quote,
02:55an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.
03:01In 2017, at a dinner with Latin American leaders on the margin of the U.N. General Assembly,
03:08President Trump openly discussed the option of the U.S. invading Venezuela to overthrow the government.
03:15During 2017 to 2020, the United States imposed sweeping sanctions on the state oil company, PDVSA.
03:22Oil production fell by 75% from 2016 to 2020, and the real GDP per capita declined by 62%.
03:32The U.N. General Assembly has repeatedly voted overwhelmingly against such unilateral, coercive measures.
03:40Under international law, only the Security Council has the authority to impose such measures.
03:46On the 23rd of January 2019, the United States unilaterally recognized Mr. Juan Guaido as interim president,
03:54and a few days later froze approximately $7 billion of Venezuelan sovereign assets held abroad
03:59and gave the designated authority over certain of these assets.
04:05These actions form part of a continuous U.S. regime change effort spanning more than two decades.
04:11In the past year, the United States has carried out bombing operations in seven countries,
04:18none of which were authorized by the U.N. Security Council,
04:21and none of which were undertaken in lawful self-defense under the Charter.
04:25The targeted countries include Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and now Venezuela.
04:34In the past month, President Trump has issued direct threats against six U.N. member states,
04:40including Colombia, Denmark, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, and of course Venezuela.
04:48Members of the Council are not called upon to judge Nicolas Maduro.
04:54They are not called upon to assess whether the recent U.S. attack
04:57and ongoing naval quarantine results in freedom or in subjugation.
05:03Members of the Council are called upon to defend international law, and specifically the U.N. charter.
05:09The realist school of international relations, articulated most brilliantly by John Mearsheimer,
05:15accurately describes the condition of international anarchy as the tragedy of great power politics.
05:23Realism is therefore a description, not a solution for peace.
05:27Its own conclusion is that anarchy leads to tragedy.
05:31In the aftermath of World War I, the League of Nations was created to end the tragedy through the application of international law.
05:39Yet the world's leading nations failed to defend international law in the 1930s, leading to renewed global war.
05:46The United Nations emerged from that catastrophe as humanity's second great effort to place international law above international anarchy.
05:54In the words of the Charter, the U.N. was created, quote,
05:58to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind.
06:07Given that we are in the nuclear age, failure cannot be repeated.
06:11Humanity would perish.
06:13There would be no third chance.
06:15To fulfill its responsibilities under the Charter, the Security Council should immediately affirm the following actions.
06:23The United States shall immediately cease and desist from all explicit and implicit threats or use force against Venezuela.
06:31The United States shall terminate its naval quarantine and all related coercive military measures undertaken in the absence of authorization by the U.N. Security Council.
06:41The United States shall immediately withdraw its military forces from within and along the perimeter of Venezuela,
06:48including intelligence, naval, air, and other forward-deployed assets positioned for coercive purposes.
06:55Venezuela shall adhere to the U.N. Charter and to the human rights protected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
07:02The Secretary General, I recommend, should immediately appoint a special envoy mandated to engage relevant Venezuelan and international stakeholders
07:11and to report back to the Security Council within 14 days with recommendations consistent with the Charter.
07:18And the Security Council should remain urgently seized of this matter.
07:22All member states should refrain from unilateral threats, coercive measures, or armed actions undertaken outside the authority of the U.N. Security Council.
07:32In closing, Mr. President and distinguished members of the Council,
07:38peace and the survival of humanity depend on whether the United Nations Charter remains a living instrument of international law
07:46or is allowed to wither into irrelevance.
07:50That is the choice before this Council today.
Be the first to comment