Venezuela Loses UN Voting Rights Due to Arrears
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced some very embarrassing news for Venezuela. Addressing the U.N.'s General Assembly in a letter, the secretary-general stated that the Latin American nation, together with 14 other countries, would have their voting rights temporarily revoked as a result of unpaid annual membership dues to the international organization, according to FOX News.
With Venezuela's voting rights suspended, the Latin American nation would not be allowed to vote, unless the exceptional circumstances arise. The loss of its voting rights is extremely embarrassing to Venezuela, most especially since the country is currently serving as a member of the U.N.'s Security Council.
In fact, Venezuela is actually set to take over the U.N. Security Council's presidency next month, with ex-Finance Minister and state oil company PDVSA head Rafael Ramirez set to serve as Venezuela's Ambassador to the U.N. and Maria Gabriela Chavez, daughter of the late Hugo Chavez, set to serve as the Deputy Ambassador, reported The Latin American Herald Tribune.
The suspension of voting rights has not been confined to Venezuela alone, however, as even prominent oil-producing nations have been sanctioned by the U.N. due to their unpaid dues. Even Iran, one of the Middle East's primary exporters of oil, used to have its voting rights suspended.
With the country's economic sanctions being lifted, however, Iran was quickly able to pay its annual dues to the international organization, effectively restoring its voting rights, according to The Himalayan Times.
Other nations that are currently suspended include the Dominican Republic, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Venezuela has been embroiled in an economic crisis for some time how, with the country's economy contracting 10 percent during the previous year. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has further stated that the Latin American country's inflation is running well into the triple digits, registering at 275 percent.
Analysts from the IMF are also not optimistic about the country's prospects of bouncing back this year, expecting the troubled OPEC member's inflation to rise as much as 720 percent and that its GDP would fall about 18 percent in 2015 to 2016.
With its economic problems emerging left and right, Venezuela's lack of funds is quite understandable.
If it wants to get its voting rights back, Venezuela would just need to make a payment of $3 million to the United Nations, according to the organization's secretary-general.
With Venezuela's current economic status, however, even such a relatively basic amount might very well be a bit too much.
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