CARACAS
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elías Jaua will meet United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Geneva on Tuesday, amid growing calls for dialogue among political actors to end the worst unrest in a decade in Venezuela.
Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations Jorge Valero on Saturday said that the UN secretary-general had requested a meeting with the Venezuelan foreign minister for Tuesday, when a meeting of the UN Council for Human Rights will be held.
“He (Jaua) will have the opportunity to explain to human rights representatives the policies the government is driving to promote peace and dialogue, and file complaints about the terrorist plans and the coup that have taken place in Venezuela,” Valero said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday condemned violence in recent weeks in Venezuela, “regardless of who is responsible,” and urged the government to ensure respect for freedom of expression and assembly. In his press release, Valero explicitly said his statements were a direct reply to Pillay’s remarks. The High Commissioner rejected the “continuous inflammatory rhetoric on both sides” as “useless,” Efe reported.
