Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro addressed the United Nations General Assembly on 23 September. The speech did not contain any startling revelations: Maduro blamed Venezuela’s enduring crisis on US sanctions rather than the incompetence, misrule, and systemic corruption that has characterised his de facto government. But the speech was eagerly anticipated because it was given against the backdrop of the release precisely one week earlier of a long report by a UN fact-finding mission. This outlined a litany of egregious human rights violations committed by various organs of the repressive state security apparatus and made the incendiary claim that these were not just condoned but often ordered by the top echelons of the Bolivarian government, including Maduro himself. Maduro made no reference to the report during his speech.End of preview - This article contains approximately 1197 words.
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