“The report is full of lies and was prepared remotely without any methodological rigor by a phantom mission biased against Venezuela and controlled by governments subordinate to Washington,” Arreaza tweeted on Wednesday.
According to the minister, the report illustrates the practice of exploiting human rights rhetoric for political purposes, rather than championing human rights.
Arreaza recalled that Caracas refused to recognize the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) mission to Venezuela since the moment of its creation in December 2019.
On Wednesday, the mission’s report said that the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was responsible for multiple human rights violations that amount to crimes against humanity.
Venezuela has been suffering from a severe political crisis since the beginning of last year, when Juan Guaido, then head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, proclaimed himself an interim president of Venezuela in a bid to oust reelected Maduro from power. Brazil, along with the United States and many other countries, recognized Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela and accused Maduro of illegally holding the power. Maduro has repeatedly accused the United States and Guaido of collaborating to overthrow his government to seize the country's natural resources.