Testimony by Leopoldo Lopez on behalf of United Nations Watch, exposing Nicolas Maduro’s crimes against his own people. 52nd Session of the Human Rights Council, 22 March 2023:
Thank you, Mr. President.
It is an honor to speak today on behalf of UN Watch and Venezuela.
This month, along with more than 2,000 Venezuelans, I submitted my written statement to the International Criminal Court against Nicolas Maduro in the investigation pending for committing crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, we find this possibility of justice outside of Venezuela, because there is no rule of law and justice in Venezuela.
The plain truth is that there is no justice and rule of law in our country. We have heard from Maduro representatives and some of his autocratic allies, that there have been significant improvements in our country in terms of human rights. This is not only false, but the situation continues to deteriorate.
The largest humanitarian crisis in the hemisphere, millions of Venezuelans thrown into extreme poverty, hundreds of political prisoners and the largest migration crisis on the planet. This has one root cause and one name: Nicolas Maduro.
We have heard from the representatives of Maduro that this situation is because of sanctions. This is not true and it’s just a tactic by Maduro, like other autocratic regimes, used to deflect their responsibility and to hide their own corruption.
Let’s be clear, the only path to improve human rights in Venezuela is through the promotion of the rule of law and democracy.
And that means political change.
