Caracas, Thursday March 04, 2004
Venezuelan ambassador to UN resigns due to human right violations
"As a representative in the UN, an organization with a primary responsibility in the promotion, protection and defense of human dignity, I cannot be indifferent when human rights are not respected in my own country," Milos Alcalay said.
EL UNIVERSAL
The Venezuelan Ambassador to the Organization of the United Nations, Milos Alcalay, resigned Thursday arguing that the authorities in his country are violating the population's human rights.
Alcalay offered a press conference in the Washington offices of the UN to explain the three reasons that have forced him to abandon the position: Human right violations and repression by the government, the poor situation of the Venezuelan democracy and the government's use of "conflict diplomacy."
"As a representative in the UN, an organization with a primary responsibility in the promotion, protection and defense of human dignity, I cannot be indifferent when the human rights are not respected in my own country," Alcalay said in a press release delivered to the press and read in Venezuela by Globovisión news channel.
Alcalay, who had recently returned to Washington from Caracas, said that the international community has seen with astonishment the uncontrolled military and political repression that is taking place in Venezuela.
"The consequences are the loss of human lives, injured people, missing persons, political prisoners without trial, as women and children are harassed by a brutal, unacceptable and primitive reaction by security forces or those who give them orders," the diplomat pointed out.
"This means," he continued, "that demonstrators have no possibility to manifest themselves without the risk of being brutally repressed (...), and this must cease immediately."
Alcalay said that a diplomat with more than 30 years of experience as himself couldn't serve a political movement like the ruling Movimiento Quinta República.
"I hope my resignation is understood as a testimony that reaffirms the call for all Venezuelans to reunite and consolidate a national salvation government, one with the ethical principles that have inspired the nation throughout history and the values of a just, transparent and solidarity-driven society," he said.
In 1998, Alcalay was Venezuela's deputy foreign minister, and in 1999, ambassador to Brazil. Under President Hugo Chávez, he served as ambassador to the United Nations until January 2004, when he was appointed ambassador to Great Britain.
Translated by Edgardo Malaver
http://www.eluniversal.com/2004/03/04/04A437393.shtml