Maduro celebrates historic victory of Uruguay on tobacco company Philip Morris


President Nicolas Maduro celebrated the historic victory achieved by the Government of Tabaré Vazquez over the tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI), which in 2010 filed a lawsuit against the Uruguayan State at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of the World Bank, for the release of an official program to combat smoking.
Uruguay is a world leader in implementing the Framework Convention of Snuff Control of the World Health Organization (WHO), so this victory debunks the claims of the transnational tobacco company.
Read below the communiqué by the Ministry of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs:
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro Moros, expresses his heartfelt congratulations to the Government of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay and its people, for the historic victory of the Uruguayan State to the unacceptable claims of the tobacco transnational, Philips Morris.
The sensible recognition of the power of Uruguay to take active measures to protect the rights of the persons concerning life and health, strengthens the sacred principle of sovereignty and gives a fair prevalence of the human person over economic interests They are underlying the behavior of transnational corporations.
This unprecedented result for the welfare of the people, was made possible by the commitment of President Tabaré Vazquez to face without fear one of the largest and most powerful transnationals in the world, based on the conviction that the health of the people it is an essential principle for the survival of the human species. With this result are being honored millions of peoples who have died or become sick because of the voracious and inhuman tobacco industry.
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, by reiterating his congratulations to President Tabaré Vazquez, claims the dignity of this South American sisterly nation in the defense of the basic rights of its people.
Caracas, July 9, 2016