Venezuela's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Samuel Moncada speaks to journalists during a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, Aug. 6, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
The U.S. government is "threatening to violate our territorial integrity in order to alter both internal and regional peace, thus using military force to impose its domination over our people," the Venezuelan UN envoy said.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Samuel Moncada Tuesday called on the Security Council to investigate the threats recently imposed by the United States against his country.
"The U.S. Government is clearly violating the UN Charter and the norms of international law, by intervening in the sovereign affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela," Moncada told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, citing a letter that his mission "is sending" to both the Security Council and the Secretariat.
The U.S. Government is also "threatening to violate our territorial integrity in order to alter both internal and regional peace, thus using military force to impose its domination over our people," he added.
The envoy noted that UN Charter stipulates that "the Security Council may investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute, in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security."
The Venezuelan envoy therefore listed the U.S. threat actions in order of "an illegal naval blockade and a quarantine against our nation," "the hostile and illegal incursions by U.S. military aircraft within the region of flight control information in Venezuela," and "the illegal incursion of a U.S. military ship into jurisdictional waters of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela."
"These three actions share one common aspect; they all precipitate tensions between the two countries in order to justify a large-scale military intervention against our nation. These are planned provocations that threaten peace and demand a response from the United Nations Security Council," he said.
The ambassador also criticized the Trump administration for freezing all Venezuelan government assets in the U.S. territory, noting that Venezuela will "take the measures necessary internationally and nationally to defend ourselves."
The Trump administration has frozen all Venezuelan government assets in a dramatic escalation of tensions with President Nicolas Maduro.
The ban, blocking American companies and individuals from doing business with Maduro's government, took effect immediately Monday.
