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STORY: UN / VENEZUELA SECURITY COUNCIL
TRT: 03:47
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 10 APRIL 2019, NEW YORK CITY
RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
10 APRIL 2019, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, Secretary-General and Council President
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“In Venezuela, there is a need to separate political and humanitarian objectives. Humanitarian assistance must be delivered on the basis of need alone. The Secretary-General has repeatedly stressed the importance of the humanitarian principles and has called on Member States and others to respect them.”
5. Med shot, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“Historically, Venezuela has imported up to 75 per cent of its food. As a result of the crisis, the availability and affordability of food has fallen, with lower imports, reduced local production and declining purchasing power. Many people depend on subsidized food to meet their needs. Six million families across the country reportedly benefit from food supplies distributed by the Government. Despite this, malnutrition has increased, especially in areas with the highest poverty rates.”
7. Zoom in US Vice President Mike Pence
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Pence, Vice President, United States:
“The Maduro regime is not only a threat to the Venezuelan people; it is a threat to the peace and security of the wider region as well. The rising desperation in Venezuela has fuelled a mass exodus, the likes of which we have never seen in the Western Hemisphere. More than 3 million Venezuelans have now abandoned their beloved country. And if things don’t get better, it is estimated that another 2 million are expected to follow before the year is out.”
9. Med shot, Venezuela Ambassador
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Pence, Vice President, United States:
“With all due respect, Mr. Ambassador, you shouldn't be here. You should return to Venezuela and tell Nicolás Maduro that his time is up. It’s time for him to go.”
11. Med shot, Venezuela Ambassador
12. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“Today we are witnessing yet another episode of a tragedy with several acts in the attempt to change regime in Venezuela. The situation in Venezuela does not represent a threat to international peace and security. However, the external players are a direct threat to the peace and security of Venezuela itself. And we just heard that today.”
13. Med shot, British Ambassador
14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Samuel Moncada, Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United Nations:
“The human actions that have caused this situation are part of an economic destruction plan programmed by the United States government and the United Kingdom with the goal of strangling the national economy, provoking maximum social suffering, eroding our nation’s capacities to sustain itself, and finally to cause an implosion that would allow a foreign military invasion, under the disastrous notion of the responsibility to protect, which has been the excuse for colonialist invasions of nations with oil reserves.”
15. Med shot, delegates
16. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Samuel Moncada, Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United Nations:
“If it was true that the Venezuelan government is killing its own people, why is this group of countries applying this extortive wave to increase suffering. Why is this necessary if, according to them, we are already killing them? It is false. The social implosion is being provoked by them. We are interested in the peace and well-being of our people. They are the ones who want a social implosion to justify an invasion.”
17. Wide shot, Council
The United Nations top humanitarian official today (10 April) called on the Security Council “to separate political and humanitarian objectives” in Venezuela and said that “humanitarian assistance must be delivered on the basis of need alone.”
Addressing a Council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Venezuela, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, said Secretary-General António Guterres “has repeatedly stressed the importance of the humanitarian principles and has called on member states and others to respect them.”
Lowcock noted that historically, Venezuela has imported up to 75 per cent of its food. He said, “as a result of the crisis, the availability and affordability of food has fallen, with lower imports, reduced local production and declining purchasing power.”
He said, “six million families across the country reportedly benefit from food supplies distributed by the Government. Despite this, malnutrition has increased, especially in areas with the highest poverty rates.”
In his address to the Council, the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, said, “the Maduro regime is not only a threat to the Venezuelan people; it is a threat to the peace and security of the wider region as well.”
He said, “the rising desperation in Venezuela has fuelled a mass exodus, the likes of which we have never seen in the Western Hemisphere.”
Speaking directly to Venezuela’s Ambassador Samuel Moncada, Pence said, “with all due respect, Mr. Ambassador, you shouldn't be here. You should return to Venezuela and tell Nicolás Maduro that his time is up. It’s time for him to go.”
Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya lamented that Pence did not stay at the Council to listen to other briefers and said, “today we are witnessing yet another episode of a tragedy with several acts in the attempt to change regime in Venezuela. The situation in Venezuela does not represent a threat to international peace and security. However, the external players are a direct threat to the peace and security of Venezuela itself. And we just heard that today.”
For his part, Moncada said, “the human actions that have caused this situation are part of an economic destruction plan programmed by the United States government and the United Kingdom with the goal of strangling the national economy, provoking maximum social suffering, eroding our nation’s capacities to sustain itself, and finally to cause an implosion that would allow a foreign military invasion, under the disastrous notion of the responsibility to protect, which has been the excuse for colonialist invasions of nations with oil reserves.”
The Venezuelan Ambassador said, “if it was true that the Venezuelan government is killing its own people, why is this group of countries applying this extortive wave to increase suffering. Why is this necessary if, according to them, we are already killing them? It is false. The social implosion is being provoked by them. We are interested in the peace and well-being of our people. They are the ones who want a social implosion to justify an invasion.”
Today’s meeting took place at the request of the US. Secretary-General António Guterres.
