Campaign of Suspension of European Sanctions against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Campaign of Suspension of European Sanctions against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela We, the undersigned, consider that the unilateral coercive measures implemented and deepened by President Trump against the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela are illegal and unjustified. Furthermore, in the current circumstances facing humanity with the Covid-19 pandemic, they become inhumane measures that undermine the effort made at the international level to overcome the current difficult situation.

This decision can cost many ordinary Venezuelans their lives and will further deny Venezuela access to food, medicine and vital health supplies.

We note that a wide range of voices at the international level - including His Holiness, Pope Francis, the UN Secretary General, the Non-Aligned Movement Countries (NAM), (ALBA-TCP) - UNASUR (Union of South American Nations), Antonio Guterres, the EU ( This has been publicly called three times by Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign minister), senators from the United States, numerous governments from Latin America and the Caribbean, CARICOM, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Trade Union Confederation of Workers of the Americas and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), and many national union federations (including the UGT, the largest national confederation of unions in Spain, and the CC.OO), the CGTP-In of Portugal; in addition to parties both for and against the government in Venezuela itself, and many others - have called for the United States to abandon this approach of increasingly punitive sanctions against Venezuela.

In a letter to Mike Pompeo and the United States Treasury Department, 11 US senators noted that, while sanctioned countries like Venezuela "are struggling to respond to their internal health crises, the United States sanctions are hindering free movement of desperately needed medical and humanitarian supplies due to the broad crippling effect of sanctions on those transactions, even when there are technical exemptions.�

As is well known, US economic sanctions - illegal under international law - are actually unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States government on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that not only violate the United Nations Charter and the framework international legal, but they

generate an adverse impact on the enjoyment of human rights, both civil and economic, social and cultural, which is accentuated in the context of global expansion of Covid-19.

This was one of the central approaches of Alfred de Zayas, former independent expert for the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order of the United Nations, during the videoconference "Unilateral coercive measures, weapons of mass destruction", These measures have devastated the economy from Venezuela, creating food and medicine shortages, impoverishing this nation and leading many Venezuelans to leave the country.

The Venezuelan people do not need sanctions, but constructive dialogue and help. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, Arancha GonzĂĄlez Laya, whose government strongly supports that sanctioned countries be allowed to acquire medicines, health supplies and other materials to combat the pandemic, has spoken a moving truth: “Until we are all safe, no one is safe ".

Now is the time for international cooperation and humanitarianism in the fight against the Covid-19 virus and its devastating effects worldwide. As signatories to this statement, we join the growing number of international voices demanding that US sanctions be suspended immediately.

There is a precedent for the suspension of sanctions for the acquisition of vital supplies to save the lives of thousands of human beings, with the creation of the INSTEX trade mechanism that allowed for the first transaction of medical material with Iran, one of the countries hardest hit by the Covid19, March 31, 2020. This antecedent under current conditions sets a very important precedent.

Identify all financial institutions that illegally withhold resources belonging to the Venezuelan state and people (a direct consequence of the extraterritoriality of US sanctions) and demand that these resources be immediately and unconditionally restored to their rightful owner through INSTEX and that by the same Via the transactions required by Venezuela in terms of food, medicines and health supplies are carried out.

The following is a list of illegally held resources and withholding banks European banks Novo Banco Bank of England (Gold) Clearstream (Debt securities) Euroclear (Securities) Banque Eni Delubac Non-European banks Citibank Sumitomo UnionBank Other banks and financial institutions 17 countries

Country Portugal United Kingdom United Kingdom

USD 1,547,322,175 1,323,228,162 517,088,580

Euros 1,381,290,997 1,181,242,780 461,603,802

Belgium Belgium Belgium

140,519,752 53,084,499 38,698,931

125,441,664 47,388,410 34,546,447

United States United States United States

458,415,178 507,506,853 230,024,462

409,226,189 453,050,216 205,342,315

654,142,049

583,951,123

If you want to express your support, please send email to nosanciones@gmail.com Latin American Coordinator of Solidarity in Belgium. https://coordinadoralatinoamericanabelgica.wordpress.com/