Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses. Share the link of this article with your facebook friends

 

Zarif Visits Caracas in Show of Solidarity, UN Resolution Rejects Sanctions, Venezuelan Jet Intercepts US Aircraft

July 22, 2019

 

Iranian foreign minster, Muhammed Jawad Zarif, welcomed by Venezuelan foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, in Caracas, July 19, 2019	US fighter jet, Southern Command

 

Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Visits Venezuela in Show of Solidarity

TeleSur English July 20th 2019

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif traveled to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on Friday to meet with several officials after attending a U.N. session in New York City earlier in the week.

According to the Tasnim News Agency, Zarif said the United States is "creating instability and insecurity" in the Middle East and Latin America. "The resistance of Venezuela to the United States is very important for the people of the world and the people of Venezuela," Zarif was quoted as saying.

The Iranian Foreign Minister touched on the constant U.S. interference in Venezuelan affairs and the effects of their inhuman blockade of the Bolivarian Republic. "Without the interference of the United States, the people of Venezuela know how to live together and how to get along with each other," Zarif said.

"Wherever the United States steps, it brings instability and insecurity," he said, adding in the Middle East and the regions of South America and Latin America, the United States is creating "instability and insecurity."

Zarif reportedly made these comments during his meeting with the Non-Aligned Movement in Caracas on Friday.

Iran, like Venezuela, is facing an aggressive U.S. administration that seeks to isolate the Islamic Republic from the world using economic sanctions and threatening their allies from doing business with them. 

On Friday, Iran seized two British oil tankers that were traveling through the imperative Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. This move by Tehran has upset the United Kingdom and prompted them to summon the Iranian ambassador. 

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Iranian-FM-Visits-Venezuela-in-Show-of-Solidarity--20190720-0003.html

UN Human Rights Council Adopts Resolution Rejecting US Sanctions

By TeleSur English July 15th 2019

The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution condemning the imposition of sanctions by the United States and its allies against Venezuela and other member states on Saturday.

The draft resolution was approved with 28 votes in favor, 14 against and five abstentions, and was presented by Venezuela and Palestine on behalf of the Movement of Non-aligned Countries (NAM) during the 41st session ofthe Council. 

“I am grateful for the overwhelming support of the member states of the UN Human Rights Council for the resolution presented by the presidency of NAM in favor of Venezuela. A victory that expands international cooperation and rejects imperial sanctions,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro tweeted Sunday. 

The document also reaffirms the “inalienable right” of every country “to choose freely and develop, in accordance with the sovereign will of its people, its own political, social, economic and cultural systems, without interference from any other State or non-State actor." 

"Venezuela, as president of the NAM, presented a resolution to deepen international cooperation and reject unilateral coercive measures (sanctions) in the UN Human Rights Council, which was approved with large support from its member states," tweeted Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza.

In May, the U.N’s special rapporteur on the negative impact of sanctions, Idriss Jazairy, expressed that the use of economic sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran for political purposes violates human rights and international law.

Yet, this latest resolution comes at a key moment for Venezuela as its government has systematically rejected the report presented by the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. In it, Bachelet omits major social policies of Maduro’s administration and fails to mention the simultaneous economic attacks against the country by the U.S. government.

Since 2017, the White House has imposed 150 sanctions on individuals and entities of Venezuela, which, as the U.N. resolution reads, “hinder the well-being of the population of the affected countries and create obstacles to the full realization of their human rights.”

Just in the Latin American country, sanctions have resulted in the direct deaths of over 40,000 citizens due to lack of food and medicine, as well as a loss of around US$116 billion for Venezuela, according to the country’s Vice President of Planning Ricardo Menendez as well as a recent independent report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14585

***

Venezuela fighter jet made an 'unsafe' approach to US aircraft, US military says

By Devan Cole and Ryan Browne,

CNN, July 22, 2019 

A Venezuelan fighter aircraft recently made an "unsafe approach" to a US Navy aircraft flying in international airspace, "endangering the safety of the crew and jeopardizing" the aircraft's mission, the US military said Sunday.

The incident, which occurred on Friday, involved a "Russian-made" SU-30 Flanker Venezuelan fighter aircraft and a US Navy EP-3 Aries II aircraft conducting a "detection and monitoring" mission, US Southern Command said in a statement. In a Sunday tweet, the Southern Command said the incident happened in international airspace over the Caribbean Sea.

"After reviewing video documentation, we have determined the Russian-made fighter aggressively shadowed the EP-3 at an unsafe distance in international airspace for a prolonged period of time, endangering the safety of the crew and jeopardizing the EP-3 mission," the statement read.

Venezuela's military weighed in Sunday, denouncing the US aircraft for violating "security of air operations and international treaties."

The military reported that Venezuelan strategic high command "proceeded to intercept the aircraft through two airplanes of the Bolivarian Air Force with the intention of applying the international protocols established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). As the US aircraft did not comply with such protocols, it was forced to vacate (the Venezuelan airspace)."

The incident comes several months after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro became engaged in a power struggle with opposition leader and self-declared interim president of Venezuela Juan Guaido, who the US has thrown support behind.

Southern Command said in its statement that the "Maduro regime continues to undermine internationally-recognized laws and demonstrate its contempt for international agreements authorizing the U.S. and other nations to safely conduct flights in international airspace."

"Despite the Venezuelan people's suffering, his nation's vital infrastructure crumbling, and children starving, Maduro chooses to use his country's precious resources to engage in unprovoked and unjustified acts," the Southern Command said.

According to Venezuela, more than 76 US aircraft have attempted to enter Venezuelan airspace in 2019.

Last month, a Russian aircraft intercepted a US aircraft flying in international airspace over the Mediterranean Sea three times in just under three hours. And in May, the US intercepted two Russian bombers and fighter jets off the coast of Alaska over the course of two days. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/venezuela-fighter-jet-made-an-unsafe-approach-to-us-aircraft-us-military-says/ar-AAEEC6d?ocid=spartandhp

***

Share the link of this article with your facebook friends