EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION AGAINST TRUMP VENEZUELA COUP
Monday, February 4, 2019, at 3 PM,
The United States Permanent Mission to the United Nations,
located on the corner of 45th Street and First Avenue, NYC.
For more information call December 12th Movement (718)398-1766
#Venezuela #NicolasMaduro #StopTrumpCoupInVenezuela
As the U.S. attempts to execute a coup d’etat against the elected government of Venezuela, we must do all we can to stop this violation of international law. Please sign on to and circulate this letter to all your contacts both national and international. ALSO Join us on Monday, February 4th, 3 pm at the United States Mission to the United Nations (45th Street and First Avenue) to demand “U.S. HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!” For information call (718) 398-1766.
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION AGAINST TORTURE (IAAT-AICT)
ASOCIATION INTERNATIONALE CONTRE LA TORTURE (AICT)
394 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11216
(718) 230-5270 (tel) – (718) 230-5273 (fax)
AICT1@aol.com
DECEMBER 12th MOVEMENT INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT
456 Nostrand Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11216, USA
(718) 398-1766 (tel)
D12M@aol.com (e-mail)
January 25, 2019
Mr. Antonio Guterres
U.N. Secretary-General
United Nations Headquarters
405 E. 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017
Re: Denunciation of United States Interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela
Dear Secretary-General:
We are NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC requesting that you immediately denounce and take all possible steps to end the United States current actions towards the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as violations of Articles 1 and 2 of the United Nations Charter and of international law. The events of this week, including the United States immediate recognition of the illegally self-declared Presidency of Juan Guaido, followed by those of Canada, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Costa Rica, the UK and Peru evidence a highly orchestrated international attempt to effect a coup d’etat. The U.S.’s announced refusal to follow President Maduro’s justifiable demand for 72-hour withdrawal of diplomatic personnel is a transparent attempt to provoke a military confrontation. In addition to the U.N. Charter, the International Court of Justice in its 1986 decision condemning U.S. interference in Sandanista-led Nicaragua
[a decision which the U.S. cavalierly refused to accept]has made it crystal clear that:
“[t]he principle of non-intervention involves the right of every sovereign State to conduct its affairs without outside interference; (ICJ Reports 1986, p.106, para. 202)… “[T]he principle forbids all States or groups of States to intervene directly or indirectly in the internal or external affairs of other States” … “[A] prohibited intervention must accordingly be one bearing on matters in which each State is permitted, by the principle of State sovereignty, to decide freely. One of these is the choice of a political, economic, social and cultural system, and the formulation of foreign policy. Intervention is wrongful when it uses methods of coercion in regard to such choices, which must remain free ones. [ … ] the element of coercion [ ,,, ] defines, and indeed forms the very essence of, prohibited intervention” (para. 205).
In DRC V. Uganda (2005), the Court noted that Nicaragua had “made it clear that the principle of non-intervention prohibits a State “to intervene, directly or indirectly, with or without armed force, in support of the internal opposition within a State” (Emphasis added, ICJ Reports 2005, para. 164).
The current events must be viewed in the context of the U.S. government’s interference in Venezuela since the Presidency of the late Hugo Chavez and continuing under President Nicolas Maduro. For the record, examples of this interference include:
• The 2001 sabotage of Venezuela’s petroleum industry;
• The 2002 aborted coup d’etat against then-President Hugo Chavez;
• The 15-year campaign to engineer commodity shortages in Venezuela;
• The 2014 “La Salida” (The Exit) campaign of organized violent street protests;
• President Obama’s official declaration of Venezuela as a threat to US national security;
• The 2015 “Operation Jericho” attempt at a violent military coup against President Maduro.
• The 2015 support of “Democratic Unity Roundtable,” the main opposition party to the incumbent United • Socialist Party of Venezuela, in the December 6th national parliamentary elections
• The 2017 sanctions imposed by the U.S. with the intent to “make the economy scream.”
• The U.S. acknowledgment that it had secretly met several times in 2017-18 with dissident members of the military to discuss the overthrow of President Maduro’s government
• U.S. President Trump’s many statements regarding his willingness to pursue a “military option.”
These are just a few examples of the USA’s unsuccessful attempts to effect regime change in Venezuela. The U.N. must acknowledge and denounce these current violations of the UN Charter. The U.N. must demand that the United States of America cease and desist all interference in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and let Venezuela exercise its right to self-determination free of U.S. government overt and covert collusion with the Venezuelan elite, its right-wing media, and military-politico forces.
Yours,
Roger Wareham, Esq. Viola Plummer, Chair
International Secretary-General December 12th Movement
AICTcc: Ms. Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, General Assembly President
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