00:00I now give the floor to Mr. Jeffrey Sachs.
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.
07:53Thank you very much.
07:54Thank you very much.
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