Argentina denounces Maduro government at ICC over embassy ‘siege’

Argentina has denounced President Nicolás Maduro’s government before the International Criminal Court, accusing it of besieging its Embassy in Caracas where six opposition Venezuelan leaders have been in hiding since March.

Mario Oyarzábal, Argentina’s representative to the ICC, said Tuesday that Maduro’s government is pressuring those living in the diplomatic building, cutting off electricity and water supplies.

“It is imperative that the inviolability of our diplomatic headquarters be respected, and that the necessary safe conduct be granted as a matter of urgency to guarantee a safe departure,” said Oyarzábal, who is also ambassador to the Netherlands.

He said the “siege” in Caracas is being overseen by “police forces and unidentified armed actors, in retaliation for having offered asylum to people whose lives and integrity are in danger.”

The six asylum seekers are collaborators of opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was banned from running in this year’s election, in which Maduro won re-election for another six-year term in controversial circumstances.

International observers have condemned the July vote and refused to recognise its results. 

Maduro’s government accuses Machado and her allies of planning “terrorist actions” against Venezuela. She was banned from running for office and put up a candidate in her stead.

Machado, who is in hiding due to threats of arrest by the government, denounced in recent days that she had been banned from holding public office for the next 15 years.

She described the refugees as “hostages who are being tortured by the regime of Nicolás Maduro.”

“It is something abominable, unprecedented, which deserves a very strong reaction from all the foreign ministries and governments of this hemisphere. My colleagues have been there for more than eight months and every day they make their lives more difficult. They want to break them emotionally, spiritually and physically,” she declared.

Machado has called on the ICC –which is already investigating alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela -- to press for the release of what NGO Foro Penal says are more than 1,900 "political prisoners" in the troubled nation.

Most of the detainees were arrested in protests that followed Maduro's July election for a third consecutive term, with his victory declared by state authorities seen as loyal to him.

The opposition, which says its candidate Edmundo González Urrutia won the election, says the vote was fraudulent.

González Urrutia is in exile in Spain.

‘Crimes against humanity’

On Tuesday, Oyarzábal called on the Hague-based ICC to act “with determination” to judge the “crimes against humanity” being perpetrated by the Venezuelan government. 

“The situation in Venezuela demands immediate attention. We deeply regret the lack of substantive progress in the investigation being carried out by the Prosecutor General's Office,” said the Argentine representative.

He added that “since 28 July, circumstances in the country have deteriorated even further” – a reference to the disputed election. 

“Venezuela cannot be considered a state governed by the rule of law. Human and civil rights are systematically violated, and the democratic will of its people is deliberately ignored,” Oyarzábal said.

He said that “arbitrary detentions” and ‘inhumane treatment” require “rigorous” investigations.  

“Impunity not only perpetuates the suffering of the victims, but also erodes the foundations of the international legal order,” added the envoy.

Earlier this week, the six Venezuelan opposition refugees (Omar González, Pedro Urruchurtu, Magalli Meda, Claudia Macero, Humberto Villalobos and Fernando Martínez Mottola) released a video online showing the conditions in which they are living. 

Meda, who posted the one-minute video on social media, accused the Maduro regime of surrounding the building with police and complained it was their 10th day without running water or electricity. 

The group also say that they have been denied medical treatment. 

– TIMES/AFP/NA