Maduro dictatorship thanked Argentina for withdrawing human rights complaint against Venezuela

The dictatorship led by Nicolas maduro thanked him Argentine Republic the government’s decision to Alberto Fernandez having withdrawn the complaint filed in 2018 in which the International Penal Court (CPI) based on The Hague to investigate the regime of Caracas by systematic human rights violation. “It has an important symbolic value», Underlined one of the high officials of the palace of Miraflores, Tarek William Saab, during a press conference.

“It should be noted that Argentina withdrew from this complaint, claiming that this action taken in the past by other Argentinian state officials made no sense or support.“, He said Saab with reference to the position held by the southern country during the presidency of Mauricio Macri in which he adhered to the decisions taken by the Lima group, which the current government also left on March 24.

During his appearance before journalists, Saab He also underlined the importance of the decision of the Kirchnerist government not to accompany the serious accusations of crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the regime of Mature. “Argentina is withdrawing from this complaint, and this is very important, it has an important symbolic value to which we must pay particular attention. For something they do“, He said Attorney General of Venezuela.

In the last hours of Wednesday, the decision of Argentina’s foreign ministry to withdraw from the complaint lodged years ago against the Chavista regime was known. << The Government of the Argentine Republic withdraws from the said referral as well as from any presentation made in this context, including Note OI 48/2019 of September 30, 2019 linked to a report prepared by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights man from argentina”Says the official letter sent to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda.

The lawsuit was brought by Canada, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru Yes Argentina in 2018, for Maduro and the rest of the Venezuelan hierarchy to investigate for the alleged commission of crimes against humanity. It was the first time that a group of states sued a third party before this tribunal, whose mission is to try those accused of having committed crimes of genocide, war, aggression and against humanity.

In the resignation letter, Argentina stressed that his retirement is “without prejudice to the actions that the prosecution conducted on the situation in Venezuela in accordance with the provisions of the Rome Statute, with due respect for judicial independence ”. The letter was sent on March 24, the same day that the Peronist government of Alberto Fernandez announced his departure from Lima Group, regional forum aligned with United States and who denounces the abuses of the Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela.

The complaint

The decision of Casa Rosada to withdraw its support for the lawsuit brought by the Lima Group against the Bolivarian regime before the International Criminal Court (ICC) ignores an important and detailed document that reveals crimes against humanity committed in recent years.

“When the defense of human rights is mixed with politics, there are only more disappearances, more torture, more violations. With this decision, the Argentine government supports impunity and encourages more violations, ”he said. Canton of Santiago, one of the experts called by the Organization of American States (OAS) in 2018 to determine whether Maduro’s regime had committed crimes against humanity.

After having transcended the journey he led Fernandez With this latest move in his foreign policy, Cantón analyzed that “Argentina’s withdrawal in the case against Venezuela at the ICC means that the government does not care about disappearances, torture or rape of women proved in the trial, ”which he wrote with the Canadian Irwin Cotler and Costa Rican Manuel Ventura Robles.

Cantón was part of the group of independent international experts convened by the OAS to prepare material documenting what happened in Venezuela and which was presented on May 29, 2018 in Washington.

For about nine months, experts gathered information, received testimony from dozens of victims and witnesses, and analyzed evidence from human rights groups. So far, the Maduro regime’s abuses have included more than 8,200 extrajudicial killings committed since 2015 .; torture and rape.

The report of 489 pages It also analyzes the attacks against leaders opposed to the regime, “Systematic and Widespread Models of Political Persecution, harassment of students, civilians and members of the armed forces ”. All the “tools” used to terrorize the Venezuelan people.

The document includes 26 testimonies from witnesses who testified at five public hearings organized by the OAS; dozens of testimonies from victims and their families and reports submitted by more than 40 Venezuelan and international non-governmental organizations.

Among its findings, the report states that there were 131 victims of killings during the protests of 2014 and 2017, perpetrated by members of the state security forces and / or Chavist groups; identifies 8,292 extrajudicial executions that have occurred since 2015; more than 12,000 Venezuelans who were arbitrarily detained, imprisoned or subjected to other serious deprivation of physical liberty from the 2013 elections, with Maduro coming to power after the death of Hugo Chavez.

The report mentions that until then they had been detained more than 1,300 people for their political position contrary to the Maduro regime. Indeed, he emphasizes “A pattern of widespread and systematic abuse targeting an identified segment of the civilian population of Venezuela.

Torture as an instrument of persecution and repression

A chapter in the report asserts that the opposition’s campaign of persecution and intimidation included the use of torture. Tamara Suju, criminal lawyer and executive director of the Center for Latin American Studies (CASLA), has gathered evidence on cases over 15 years old. In other words, the events date back to the first stage of Chavismo.

In the OAS document, Suju cited the case of Judge María Lourdes Afiuni Mora, tortured and brutally raped, which was used as a “warning” signal to other judges “to obey the orders of the government or suffer similar consequences ”.

However, the lawyer made a difference: “under the Chávez government, torture was selective, unlike what happens under the Nicolás Maduro regime”. He assured that with the heir to the dictatorial throne the use of torture is “disproportionate” and “recurrent”.

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