Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The double standards and hypocrisy of the Government and the EU on this are stunning. Saudi Arabia brings Yemen to the brink of famine, kills Jamal Khashoggi and tortures and abuses civil rights activists, yet they do not even ask to visit its prisons. From the moment the Chavez regime came to power in Venezuela, America and the wealthy in Venezuela were trying to sabotage it, despite its democratic mandate. President Maduro has done things that are wrong, over-centralised power and repressed legitimate opposition, and I condemn and criticise him for that. However, to say that the crimes he has committed are even close to what Saudi Arabia is doing is preposterous. To deny the fact that the US has an oil driven agenda in that country and throughout the region and has actively sought to sabotage the democratic wishes of the people of Venezuela from the outset is hypocrisy, denial and dishonesty at an enormous level. America is trying to control its backyard and, in particular, some of the largest oil reserves in the world. The Tánaiste knows that.

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