Venezuelan attorney general says US inflates human rights issue to undermine its sovereignty

CARACAS - Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab said Friday that the United States is using the issue of human rights as a strategy to "try to undermine the legitimacy of the Venezuelan state."

"They do it as part of those propaganda laboratories, of dirty warfare. They do not value, nor see, nor do they care about the real figures," the attorney general said.

Saab, who has been the head of the Public Ministry since 2017, highlighted the fact that the Prosecutor's Office has charged 584 individuals with human rights violations over the last three years.

In the fight against corruption, Saab said 10,299 indictments have been made so far, and a total of 1,741 people have been convicted of corruption in the last three years.

Among these cases, 21 happened in the oil industry and 103 officials from the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela company and its subsidiaries have been prosecuted, including 28 senior managers.