Ambassador Haley Chairs Historic UN Security Council Meeting on Nicaragua
The United Nations
September 5, 2018
Ambassador Nikki Haley, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, chaired a historic UN Security Council briefing this morning on the situation in Nicaragua. This was the first time the Security Council addressed the deteriorating human rights and security of the Nicaraguan people since the crisis began in April.
“Fundamental human rights are denied when a man’s ability to feed his family is destroyed. Human rights are denied when a woman loses her voice in determining her own future. And when human rights are denied, the violence and instability that follow spill over borders. One nation’s crisis becomes a region’s crisis. Even a global crisis. This process is well advanced in Venezuela. For those who say this is only a matter of Venezuelan internal affairs, tell that to the people of Colombia, tell that to the people of Peru, tell that to the people of Brazil, and tell that to the people of Ecuador. We are long past the point at which the narco-state of Venezuela stopped being a Venezuelan security problem. And now, we are seeing the start of this disastrous cycle in Nicaragua.”
“With each passing day, Nicaragua travels further down a familiar path. It is a path that Syria has taken. It is a path that Venezuela has taken. The Security Council should not – it cannot – be a passive observer as Nicaragua continues to decline into a failed, corrupt, and dictatorial state – because we know where this path leads. The Syrian exodus has produced millions of refugees, sowing instability throughout the Middle East and Europe. The Venezuelan exodus has become the largest displacement of people in the history of Latin America. A Nicaraguan exodus would overwhelm its neighbors and create a surge of migrants and asylum seekers in Central America.”
“Today, the United States stands in solidarity with the people of Nicaragua. Not just because we believe in fundamental human rights and expect them to be honored. But because our future is bound up with our neighbors in the Americas. Their prosperity is our prosperity, and their security is our security. On my trip to Colombia, I met with the Venezuelan families who walked three hours in the blazing heat every day to cross the Simon Bolivar Bridge for just a single meal – the only meal that they would have that day. Nicaraguan families aren’t this desperate – yet. But we know what’s coming if nothing changes. We still have the opportunity to prevent history from being repeated. We still have the opportunity to prevent tyranny from threatening peace and security. The Nicaraguan people are demanding a voice in their future. They are calling for the release of arbitrarily jailed protestors. They are calling for an end to a dictatorship. They are calling for their own freedom.”
