Maduro defends record at U.N. rights forum, blasts U.S.

President Nicolas Maduro defended Venezuela's human rights record in Geneva on Thursday after the top United Nations rights official voiced serious concerns about the country's judiciary and harassment of his critics. In a 45-minute speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Maduro praised the benefits of Venezuela's socialist policies and decried what he called the "ongoing harassment of the imperialist powers of the United States". Before he spoke, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein told the forum in a video of his "serious concerns about the independence of the judiciary in Venezuela, the impartiality of judges and prosecutors and the pressures they face in handling politically sensitive cases". More…