After leaving the Lima Group, Argentina withdrew its support for the trial against the Nicolás Maduro regime before the International Criminal Court

After leave the lima group in March of this year, the argentinian government withdrew its support for the allegation the bloc had filed against the Nicolás Maduro regime before the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to a letter sent by the Argentine Embassy in Holland to The Hague-based organization.

<< 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 letter addressed to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda.

The lawsuit was brought by Canada, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru Yes Argentina – at the time governed by Mauricio Macri– in 2018, for the Venezuelan regime to be investigated 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 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 Argentine government, which encouraged a shift in foreign policy towards Caracas, argued at the time that the departure of this regional bloc was due to “the participation of a sector of the Venezuelan opposition as as yet another member of the Lima Group ”, which had led to“ positions that our government could not and cannot support ”. In the statement, the Argentine government also denounced that forum actions, led by Brazil and Colombia, they had “led nowhere” and said that the solution to the Venezuelan crisis involves a “inclusive dialogue that does not favor any particular sector», And this allows the realization of “Elections accepted by majority with international control“.

The letter that revealed the Argentine government’s decision to drop the lawsuit against Venezuela is known days after the president Alberto Fernández to minimize violations of the Chavist dictatorship. Despite multiple reports from the UN, the International Criminal Court, complaints filed with the OAS and the Venezuelan opposition, the Argentine president said last Tuesday that “The human rights problem in Venezuela was disappearing”. This statement has been widely criticized in the Caribbean country, where the change indicated by the Argentine president is not perceived.

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