The News
Friday 29 of March 2024

UN Rights Chief Airs Worry about Food Shortages in Venezuela


Opposition members chant,
Opposition members chant, "Recall" during a protest asking for a referendum against Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, outside the National Electoral Council, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, July 19, 2016,photo: AP/Fernando Llano
More Than 100,000 Venezuelans have crossed the border to Colombia to buy basic goods

GENEVA — The U.N. human rights office is expressing concern about deteriorating human rights, growing violence and “severe shortages” of food, medicine and basic goods in Venezuela.

The office of human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein points to reports of rising protests demanding access to food, the arrest of hundreds of demonstrators and excessive use of force against protesters in recent weeks.

The Geneva-based office on Tuesday urged Venezuelan authorities to ensure the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and “to consider accepting humanitarian aid” to ensure food and medicine supplies are distributed.

Venezuela’s government opened its long-closed border with Colombia over the weekend, prompting more than 100,000 Venezuelans to cross to buy as many basic goods as possible amid an economic crisis and 700-percent inflation in Venezuela.