Tin pot justice
Trump, Tillerson must intervene in unjust prosecution of CITGO executives.
As we write this, five U.S. citizens and a permanent U.S resident who held top positions at Houston-based, Venezuelan-owned refiner Citgo sit in a Caracas jail awaiting a trial for which the outcome looks to be a foregone conclusion.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is close to being a tin-pot dictator if he isn’t one already, has all but pronounced them guilty and flatly rejected what he said was a request by the U.S. government to release the men, who are also Venezuelans.
“These people were born in Venezuela, they are Venezuelan and they will be tried for being corrupt, for being thieves and for being traitors to the nation,” he said on national television, apparently not too concerned about prejudicing the court.
“They’re properly behind bars, and they should go to the worst prison in Venezuela.”
Considering all that Maduro has done since succeeding the late Hugo Chavez in 2013, including a massive power grab earlier this year that basically shoved aside the dulyelected, opposition-controlled National Assembly, it’s hard to bet against him getting what he wants.
But we view it as imperative that President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson take a strong stand on this as a matter of upholding international law and protecting American citizens.
Whether Maduro likes it or not, five of these men are full-blown Americans as well as Venezuelans, and he has to respect all their rights. Those should have begun with consular visits by U.S. diplomats that the Trump administration requested under the Vienna Convention but have yet to be granted.
We strongly believe the United States has to put its foot down hard on this issue and not allow these men to be subjected to a kangaroo court and possible long jail sentences. Trump previously imposed economic sanctions against Venezuela that have hindered the government’s international dealings. Perhaps it’s time to impose more.
The Citgo executives, who include acting president Jose Ángel Pereira and five company vice presidents, are accused of trying to restructure $4 billion in company debt in a deal with private U.S. and European companies that Venezuelan state prosecutor Tarek William Saab said put Citgo at risk. Citgo, though based in Texas, is owned by Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA.
We have no idea if the accusations are legitimate or not, but we don’t have great faith in Maduro, who seems constantly on the lookout for people besides himself to blame for the disastrous state of Venezuela. Under his and Chavez’s policies, the country has become an economic basket case, despite sitting atop the world’s largest oil reserves.
If a legal case is to be made, it should be done in international courts where the rule of law, not political power, prevails.
We’re ashamed to say that in Texas this is a “do as we say, not as we do” proposition because our state has thumbed its nose at this notion in past capital murder cases with Mexican defendants. But we would have been better served if the U.S. government had intervened forcefully. So would Venezuela if, by some miracle and unlike Texas, it listens to reason.
President Trump previously imposed economic sanctions against Venezuela that have hindered the government’s international dealings. Perhaps it’s time to impose more.