SHARE: YouTube | X (Twitter) | Instagram
Today at the United Nations, dictatorships praised the Maduro regime’s record on human rights. Former political prisoner and Venezuelan activist, Leopoldo López, struck back with a scathing rebuttal.
Highlights from the U.N. Human Rights Council debate:
Venezuela: “As a country, we believe profoundly in human rights and practice them in accordance with the constitutional mandate and national laws, but we will not validate such a parody. Mr. President, we denounce once more in front of this Council the attempt to implement the old plan of change of political regime in Venezuela.”
Islamic Republic of Iran: “Venezuela has always carried out constructive cooperation with the United Nations, above all in the field of human rights. Iran reaffirms its solidarity with the government and people of Venezuela.”
Russia: “We categorically reject that this body of the United Nations to exert political pressure on Venezuela. We ask instead that we observe the success of the Venezuelan leadership to protect personal freedoms, human rights, the free choice of the people manifested in elections, the participation of representatives of the opposition, etc.”
Leopoldo López, on behalf of Ingenieurs du Monde and United Nations Watch:
This report confirms what Venezuelans know all too well: Nicolás Maduro holds onto power through systematic repression, torture, and electoral fraud.
Venezuela is not an “imperfect democracy.” It is a power structure that has destroyed the rule of law, collapsed the economy, generated a complex humanitarian crisis, and displaced one-third of the population.
This illegitimate power structure is the root of the current crisis and of the crimes documented in the report presented today: forced disappearances, torture, sexual violence against detainees—women, men, and adolescents—and the imprisonment of children under accusations of terrorism.
We Venezuelans have known this reality for a long time. Ten years ago, I was condemned to 14 years in prison for denouncing Maduro as a drug trafficker, a repressor, and corrupt—for the very accusations that this United Nations report confirms today.
Let us be clear: Venezuela has a political problem… and an organized crime problem.
As early as 2020, the UN acknowledged the existence of the Cartel de los Soles. Today we know that it is not a parallel group, but the State itself transformed into a cartel, trafficking drugs, laundering money, and exporting violence.
On July 28, the Venezuelan people overwhelmingly voted for Edmundo González for president. However, Maduro carried out a coup against popular sovereignty and remains in power by force, with the support of Russia, China, Iran, and Cuba.
That is why I urge this Council: recognize the will of the Venezuelan people, support a democratic transition, demand justice for crimes against humanity, and back the international coalition against the Cartel de los Soles.
Después de que las peores dictaduras del mundo elogiaron falsamente al régimen de Maduro, @leopoldolopez toma la palabra en las Naciones Unidas para decirle la verdad al mundo: pic.twitter.com/0eipWof3Ve
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) September 22, 2025
