The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro announced on Wednesday that he will ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) to order the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom he accused of having committed a “bloodbath” against protesters following Sunday’s elections.
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“It is time for justice and we are going to request that charges be brought with an arrest warrant,” Almagro said during an extraordinary session of the OAS Permanent Council held in Washington, where he invited member states to join the request.
The Secretary-General said that “taking into account” the investigation being carried out by the ICC Prosecutor’s Office into alleged crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela since 2014, “The time has come to bring charges against those most responsible, including Maduro.”
Maduro announced a bloodbath and is fulfilling it
According to Almagro, the Venezuelan president has been in charge of directing the instruction for the implementation of the repression” against the Venezuelan people.
“Maduro announced a bloodbath and he is fulfilling it,” said the Uruguayan politician, referring to the 17 protesters killed in anti-government demonstrations following Sunday’s elections.
Maduro said before the elections, during an electoral event, that Venezuela could fall into a “bloodbath, into a civil war” if he did not win the elections.
“It was something that impressed me when he said it, but it impresses me even more when he is doing it,” Almagro said.
The crisis in Venezuela has worsened since the National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed Maduro’s victory in last Sunday’s elections, results rejected by the opposition and a large part of the international community, which demands to see the voting records to verify the result.
The OAS, however, failed to secure a majority on Wednesday to approve a resolution demanding verification of the results in Venezuela. The absence of Mexico and several Caribbean countries, coupled with the abstention of 11 countries, including Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia, meant that the necessary votes were not obtained to approve the document.
Prior to the vote, behind closed doors, representatives of the OAS member countries negotiated the text of the document for more than 5 hours.
The key to the outcome of the vote lies there, in the disagreements that arose in these talks.
As some ambassadors recounted during the session itself, Tensions were generated by a phrase in the resolution that called for a “comprehensive verification” of the results. “in the presence of independent observation organizations to ensure the transparency, credibility and legitimacy of the results.”
The language of this article claimed that the request to verify the results had already been made by “the relevant Venezuelan political actors.” Countries that abstained from voting asked to withdraw this article in order to give their support to the resolution.
Controversy over Colombia’s abstention
Colombia’s abstention sparked a wave of internal criticism from former Colombian presidents and politicians, who accused the Government of Gustavo Petro of being “complicit” in electoral “fraud” in Venezuela.
Colombia’s ambassador to the OAS, Luis Ernesto Vargas, said during the session that the decision to abstain from voting was discussed with the Colombian Foreign Ministry and was due to doubts about the OAS itself.
Vargas said that after the statements made on Tuesday by Secretary General Luis Almagro, where he asked Maduro to accept a “defeat” in the elections, “it is difficult to present the OAS” as an “impartial” organization.
He also referred to the fact that Venezuela has no representation in the OAS, after the country submitted its request to leave the organization in 2017.
The Colombian government, which has played a key role as mediator in the Venezuelan political crisis, has publicly urged Venezuela to allow a “transparent” scrutiny of the elections, including “vote counting, minutes” and international monitoring.
According to sources from the Colombian Foreign Ministry, the Government of Gustavo Petro is in talks with Mexico and Brazil “to create the necessary conditions and seek an agreement for coexistence and political peace.”
The following voted in favor of Wednesday’s resolution: Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, the United States, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Suriname and Uruguay.
Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Grenada, Honduras, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia abstained.
Dominica, Mexico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago did not participate in the session, as did Venezuela, which has been absent from the organization for some time.
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