UN rights chief bemoans unilateral sanctions on Venezuela

United Nations, Aug 9 (UNI) A new set of unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on Venezuela this week prompted the concern of the United Nations’ top rights official, who said in a statement that she feared they would have a 'potentially severe impact' on the human rights of the South American nation’s 'long-suffering' people.
Tensions started escalating at the end of January, when Juan Guaidó, head of the country’s National Assembly, challenged the legitimacy of sitting President Nicolás Maduro and was declared interim president by the National Assembly. President Maduro has been in power since 2013 and was sworn in again for a second term on 10 January.
“The sanctions are extremely broad and fail to contain sufficient measures to mitigate their impact on the most vulnerable sectors of the population”, said Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights. “I fear that they will have far-reaching implications on the rights to health and to food in particular, in a country where there are already serious shortages of essential goods”.