Credit: Gary Raynaldo / Diplomatic Times  / Samuel Moncada, Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United Nations at press conference at UN world headquarters Jul. 12, 2019.

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –   Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United Nations Friday accused the US of seeking to sabotage any political dialogue seeking a peaceful resolution to the ongoing crisis in the Latin American nation. The government Nicholas Maduro and the opposition have been embroiled in a fierce power struggle ever since  Juan Guaidó proclaimed himself president of Venezuela in January.  The US immediately throw its full support behind Guaidó who called for Maduro to cede power.  Many Maduro supporters characterized Guaidó’s action as a coup d’etat backed by the US.  Samuel Moncada, Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the UN, accused the US over trying to undermine the latest political peace talks held in the Caribbean nation of Barbados this week.  Representatives of the ruling Socialist Party met with adversaries of President Maduro in Barbados as part of talks that began in Norway in May to resolve the stalemate resulting from Maduro’s disputed 2018 re-election.  Talks concluded on a Six-Point Agenda with no deal reached.  Ambassador Moncado,  addressing journalists at a press conference at UN world headquarters,  sharply criticized U.S. Special Representative on Venezuela Elliott Abrams appearance at a press conference Friday July 12 at the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington D.C. with the OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro.    Abrams addressed the UN Human Rights Commission report last week urging “immediate measures to halt and remedy grave rights violations” in Venezuela.

U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams delivers remarks at an @OAS_official press conference on July 12. pic.twitter.com/xBH17fRQiU

— Department of State (@StateDept) July 12, 2019

Addressing the Barbados Meeting, Elliot Abrams stated: “Interim president Guaidó and his team are not negotiating in Barbados because they trust the (Maduro) regime. They are negotiating to end the regime.”

Abrams,  a foreign  policy wonk for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, has a colorful past. Abrams is most infamous for being convicted of withholding information from Congress about the Iran–Contra affair while serving under Reagan.  He is well known for supporting U.S.-backed military dictatorships in Central America in the 1980s .  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named Abrams as the Trump administration’s new special envoy to crisis-stricken Venezuela immediately after Guaidó declared himself president in January.  Abrams’ appointment as new point person in Venezuela shocked a lot of foreign policy veterans who  are familiar with his hawkish, interventionist  style of diplomacy.  Critics say Abrams had his fingers in the infamous U.S. Invasion of Panama in 1989 and America’s questionable policies in Latin America that included backing “death squads” in the region. Many question Abram’s ‘concern’  about human rights violations in the Maduro government, suggesting  it is political cover to  boost the  Trump administration’s ultimate goal of ‘regime change’ in Venezuela. 

“The only purpose of that  (OAS) press conference is to undermine, to preclude, to prevent, to sabotage the dialogue process that is ongoing in Barbados now. The purpose of this Washington conference shows the US is determined  to push Venezuelans to a violent outcome. They are trying to tell the world that they are in charge of this dialogue process, and they do not agree to the dialogue process.”

-Samuel Moncada, Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to UN  stated. 

DIPLOMATIC TIMES Video / Samuel Moncada, Representante Permanente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela ante las Naciones Unidas en una conferencia de prensa en la sede mundial de la ONU, 12 de julio de 2019.

“The OAS Secretary General openly calls for a military intervention in Venezuela. His duty is to work for peace. This is his first duty. But he is violating all international law.  The Colombia ruling elite is asking for a military intervention.  The US is pushing for a military intervention.”  Venezuela Ambassador Moncada said.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES Video / Samuel Moncada, Representante Permanente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela July 12, 2019 United Nations. 

U.S. Allowing  Opposition Access To Venezuela Embassy in D.C. “Violation” of International Law:  Moncada 

Photo by M. Saint Gomez /  ©Diplomatic Times /  Police outside Venezuela Embassy in Washington D.C. before the remaining activists (in the windows)  were arrested and evicted from the diplomatic compound after weeks of occupying the building to protest the “U.S. backed-coup” against President Nicolas Maduro May 15, 2019.

An activist group that supports embattled Venezuela President  Maduro moved into the Venezuela Embassy in Washington D.C.  April 14.  The group, which calls themselves the Code Pink,  occupied  the embassy  and stated  they were living there in order to “protect”  the diplomatic facility  from takeover by representatives of  “interim president”  Guaidó, who they contend is Trump’s puppet mounting a coup against the Maduro government.  On May 16, , U.S. Secret Service police  officers assisted agents from the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service execute arrest warrants against people inside the embassy and they were forced out.   The four Embassy activists arrested remain subject to prosecution for ‘interference with certain protective functions’.  They appeared at a preliminary hearing  9th July by the chief judge of the US District Court in Washington DC, Beryl A. Howell. If convicted, they face up to one year in prison and up to US$100,000 in fines.

Venezuela’s interim government appointed Carlos Vecchio as ambassador to the  United States in Washington D.C.

Credit: carlosvecchiotwitter /  The U.S. has recognized Carlos Vecchio as Guaidó’s Venezualan ‘chargé  d’affaires’  in America. Vecchio

“They are in total breach of international law. They took violently those Venezuela headquarters in Washington, even here in New York, the Venezuela  Consulate headquarters in New York was taken by force. The US citizens were in the Embassy by our full authorization. They were not violating or breaching any law. They were there because we, the rightful owners of that building,  allowed them to stayed there.  They were arrested and now they are about  to be judged and face    one year prison and pay $100,000 in penalty for not committing a crime. They are absolutely innocent.”

-Samuel Moncada, Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to UN  stated. 

Guaidó’s Loyalists Seize Venezuelan Diplomatic Consulate In New York City

Photo by: Gary Raynaldo /  Supporters of Venezuela opposition interim president Jaun  Guaidó outside the Consulate General of Venezuela at 7  E. 51st  Street in Manhattan, NY City March 19, 2019.

Representatives of  Venezuela’s ‘interim president’  Guaidó  took control of the Venezuela Consulate General building in New York City in March.  In addition, they also took over diplomatic buildings in Washington D.C.  Guaidó’s  ambassador to Washington,  Carlos Vecchio, stated he had taken control of three Venezuelan diplomatic properties in the United States.

“They  (US)  illegally offered those buildings in DC and NY to the violent Venezuelan opposition.  Imagine that in a country, if you don’t agree with any of the government, we chose the political opposition of that particular government and we  recognize them as the government that we like to work  with and their properties in our countries, we’ll give it to the opposition. This is total chaos. This is mayhem. This is the perpetual conflict the US  is used to. Our answer (to US) is,  respect and defend international law.”

-Samuel Moncada, Permanent Representative of Venezuela to UN.