Former President of Colombia Andrés Pastrana on Saturday claimed that Venezuela is going through a “coup d’état” following the nation’s disputed 2024 presidential elections. The chief of the IDEA group, a coalition of 31 former heads of presidency from nations in Latin America, emphasized the urgency of worldwide intervention, particularly calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to guard the civilian inhabitants of Venezuela from ongoing abuses.
Pastrana’s remarks come amid heightened scrutiny of the Venezuelan authorities’s actions, which have been criticized for human rights violations and suppression of political dissent. He argues that the state of affairs in Venezuela warrants critical worldwide consideration and intervention, suggesting that the ICC has a critical role to play in safeguarding the rights of Venezuelans.
The ICC’s involvement within the nation began in February 2018 when the courtroom introduced preliminary probes into alleged crimes in opposition to humanity. This choice adopted referrals from a number of Latin American nations, together with Argentina, Colombia, and Peru, which cited widespread abuses occurring since not less than 2014. The investigation was formally opened in November 2021 after a radical preliminary examination led by ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, which documented allegations of torture, extrajudicial killings, and political persecution.
In April 2022, Venezuela requested the ICC to defer its investigation, claiming that home efforts had been underway. Nonetheless, the ICC discovered that these home proceedings had been inadequate and primarily focused low-level offenders, failing to handle high-level officers’ roles in systematic abuses. In June 2023, the ICC resumed its investigation after a brief suspension. In August 2024, Amnesty International (AI) launched an open letter urging the ICC to prioritize justice for victims of human rights abuses in Venezuela and emphasizing the necessity for accountability and motion in opposition to these chargeable for crimes in opposition to humanity.
Source / Picture: jurist.org
