31 former presidents, former heads of state of Latin America and Spain called for the immediate capture and arrest of Nicolas Maduro, de Diosddaado Cabello and the entire chain of command in Venezuela
Some thirty former Ibero-American presidents asked the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday for the immediate capture and arrest of the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, his number two Diosdado Cabello and the entire chain of command of the country.
For the first time, 31 former presidents, former heads of state of Latin America and Spain, sign a document (…) calling for the arrest and immediate arrest of Nicolas Maduro, de Diosdado Cabello and the entire chain of command in Venezuela, former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana told EFE, who on behalf of the signatories presented a six-page legal report to the Court’s Prosecutor’s Office.
Among the signatories are also the Spaniards Felipe González, José María Aznar and Mariano Rajoy; as well as Colombians Álvaro Uribe and Iván Duque; Argentine Mauricio Macri; Mexican Vicente Fox or Bolivian Carlos Mesa.
Is it important to note that Felipe González, José María Aznar and Mariano Rajoy signed in Spain. The only former president who does not sign it is (José Luís Rodríguez) Zapatero, Pastrana said after meeting with the team of prosecutor Karim Khan at the ICC headquarters.
The signatories, who are part of the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA-Democratic), denounced in their legal report – widespread and systematic violations of human rights, including crimes against humanity, of the Venezuelan regime of Nicolas Maduro, which they accuse of State terrorism.
This complaint, which extends to the members of the Venezuelan Army as the fundamental support of Maduro’s regime, adds to the case opened against Venezuela at the ICC in 2021.
In November of that year, the ICC prosecutor’s office opened a formal investigation against Venezuela after examining the complaints of Peru, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Chile and Paraguay, ensuring that crimes against humanity had been committed in the country since 12 February 2014.
For now, the investigation is being carried out against Venezuela and not against any high office of the Latin American country.
The core of the legal report presented by the former Ibero-American leaders focuses on the existence of the Constitutional Law on the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, which was sanctioned on January 29, 2020, which appoints Maduro as commander in chief, so that since then he is the highest hierarchical authority of the Army, as provided for by law.
It is important because, according to that document, Venezuela ceases to be a civilist state to become a military state,” Pastrana said, and Maduro, in his functions as supreme commander, is directly responsible for what is happening through the operational chain of command, as well as the other charges, since due diligence today is no longer an excuse for them to demand investigations.
“There is a state terrorism promoted directly by the President of the Republic,” said Pastrana, who offered the International Criminal Court the cooperation of the IDEA group to obtain “evidence, evidence, legal support” so that he can act quickly in the case against Venezuela.
In his meeting with the team of prosecutor Khan, Pastrana also wanted to draw attention to what was happening in the country and the “concern” for the security of Colombian opposition leaders Edmundo González and María Corina Machado, whose situation is very fragile, as well as the – more than 1,200 political detainees.
This article has been translated after first appearing in La Prensani