Foreign Minister Manuel Ventura tries to convince President Carlos Alvarado to amend what he considers to be “a historical error” of his administration: not joining the lawsuit against Nicolás Maduro before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity in Venezuela.
The president, who argues that his administration has not been hesitant in matters of foreign policy, opposed joining this movement that initially started the governments of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay and Canada. France joined days later.
On October 16th, the government said it would support the complaint before the ICC, but only sent a verbal note and a press release to the Office of the Prosecutor of that court expressing its “support” for the petition of the seven countries. According to experts in diplomacy, this mechanism does not represent a formal official communication that confirms Costa Rica’s support.
The decision to accuse Maduro before the ICC was taken by several countries after Ventura and two other human rights and international experts gave a report to the secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, on the acts of repression and violation of human rights by the Maduro regime against Venezuelans. The chancellor submitted this report before taking up his current position in the government, following an investigation that he developed between September 2017 and May 2018.
The foreign minister added that the government will analyze, within the framework of the Lima Group, the advisability of recognizing Juan Guaidó, president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, as the interim president of that country.