Czech Today, April 17, 2001.
CARACAS, Venezuela, Apr 17, 2001 -- (CTK - Czech News Agency) - Venezuela
intends to vote against the Czech draft resolution condemning human rights
violations in Cuba at the UN's Human Rights Commission in Geneva, President of
Venezuela Hugo Chavez said in Caracas after meeting with Chinese President Jiang
Zemin today.
He said that the government of Venezuela considered the commission an
instrument which had been politicized to the extreme and which had unfortunately
lost the significance it used to have. Chavez stressed that Venezuela supported
the observance of human rights but also believed and no country should be able
to condemn another over its human rights record.
The delegations of 53 countries are expected to vote on the resolution in
Geneva on Wednesday. The Czech draft resolution has provoked indignation in
Havana and has also led to a diplomatic collision between Prague and Washington
over a clause which does not recommend to continue the U.S. economic embargo
against Cuba.
According to unofficial information from April 13, the last version of the
resolution does not contain criticism of the economic sanctions against Havana.
((c) 2001 CTK - Czech News Agency) | 