MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile's Senate wants ICC to order Maduro's arrest

The motion was approved by 21 votes to none against and no abstentions

Chile's Senate Tuesday sent a note to President Gabriel Boric Font to request the International Criminal Court in The Hague (The Netherlands) to issue an arrest warrant against Venezuela's ruler Nicolás Maduro for “serious crimes that constitute a threat to peace, security and the welfare of humanity.” The Bolivarian leader has been under investigation since 2021.

“It is not possible to ignore the suffering of thousands of victims due to persecutions of different kinds that have occurred in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for years and especially the persecution suffered by thousands of victims after the presidential electoral event held on July 28 of this year, among which are especially vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly and women,” Chile's Upper House underlined.

The proposal was submitted by conservative Senators Felipe Kast of Evópoli and Francisco Chahúan of Renovación Nacional. It was approved by a simple majority of 21 votes with none against and no abstentions.

Boric, who came to power as part of a broad alliance of left and center-left parties, has already dubbed Maduro's government a “dictatorship” and continues to disregard Caracas' announcements that he had been reelected on July 28.

The Chilean petitioners also mentioned “crimes and atrocities as brutal as those committed in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” since protests erupted following what many countries considered to have been electoral fraud.

The opposition has produced about 83% of the voting minutes that would prove Edmundo Gonzále Urrutia's victory with around 67% of the vote while the National Electoral Council (CNE) said Maduro had obtained a 52% victory, despite showing no documentation to back it up, except a ruling days later by the Supreme Court's Electoral Chamber at Maduro's request endorsing the CNE's declaration.

Maduro's government has been under investigation since the mid-2010s for the alleged commission of crimes against humanity and the ICC prosecution launched a formal inquiry in 2021. In 2014, Maduro's administration rejected the ICC's work claiming it was plotting to overthrow him together with Washington.

Even if the ICC does issue an arrest warrant against Maduro, it would remain to be seen how it could be carried out given Maduro's protection inside Venezuela and allied countries. The Bolivarian leader is already wanted in the United States for drug trafficking and there is a reward out on his head. Hence, he rarely travels abroad.

Last year, the ICC rejected a request by the Venezuelan government, whereby the global court should step in only if the local judiciary was not handling the same cases.