Venezuela urges UN to help stop foreign intervention in sovereign nations

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez called on the UN Security Council to help cease foreign interventions in independent and sovereign countries, the Venezuelan News Agency (AVN) reported Wednesday.

Rodriguez made such an appeal at a high-level meeting convened in New York by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss the European refugee crisis.

"We call on the United Nations to assume its leadership" in promoting peaceful conflict resolution around the globe, and "applying international law above the wishes of those who go around the world with violent armies, waging illegal occupations and war against countries," said Rodriguez, in an oblique reference to the United States and its western allies.

"In the name of freedom, humanity and the alleged fight against terrorism," said AVN, "Western powers have promoted wars and military invasions, which have only generated chaos, destruction and political and social instability in countries in the Middle East," forcing people to flee their own countries.

The European refugee crisis was "caused by conflicts driven by the West in the Middle East and North Africa," AVN said.

Fighting terrorism should not be used "as an excuse" to launch an attack when "we dislike a certain ruler," Rodriguez told the assembly. "Let's not continue walking the same immoral path if we truly want a ... less violent world."

Wars promoted mainly by the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, under the banner of democracy promotion, have in fact undermined democracy and human rights in those countries, Rodriguez said.

"We cannot fight terrorism with more violence," he said, calling for an end to the "theater" of imperialist interventions masked as democracy building. Endi