Venezuela asks ICC to probe US sanctions

Venezuela said it had asked the International Criminal Court to investigate US sanctions against Nicolas Maduro’s government as possible crimes against humanity.

Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said that in a “historic event” he had formally referred the issue to the prosecutor of the Haguebased tribunal as being a form of “economic warfare”.

Arreaza accused US President Donald Trump’s administration of causing suffering and death among millions of Venezuelans in the last several years.

“We believe the unilateral coercive measures are crimes against humanity against the civilian population of Venezuela,” Arreaza told reporters after meeting ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

He said he hoped it could be a test case for other US sanctions.

“We have made this claim from our hearts and we hope it will be dealt with rapidly because it may even turn out to be case law to stop the craziness of the US,” he said.

There was no immediate reaction from the ICC, which was set up in 2002 to try the world’s worst crimes including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The US has not signed up to the court but the ICC can claim jurisdiction over issues that affect people in member states such as Venezuela.

The court can however only try individuals for crimes, not states, and Arreaza did not say if the case specifically named any alleged suspects.

The Trump administration first hit Venezuela’s state-run oil company with sanctions aiming to cut off Maduro’s government from a vast source of wealth, flowing from the world’s largest oil reserves.

It followed by putting dozens of Venezuelans in Maduro’s inner circle on its sanctions list — including Maduro himself. Any of their US assets were frozen and US citizens are banned from doing business with them.

Most recently, it targeted a fleet of 40 commercial planes of the Venezuelan state-run airline CONVIASA. US Treasury officials say “corrupt regime officials” in Maduro’s government use the planes to advance antidemocratic efforts.

“What justifies sanctions on a transport company, a public service?” Maduro said, blasting the announcement. “What harm do they do to me? The damage is done to the people of Venezuela.”

The ICC has already launched a preliminary investigation in 2018 into alleged abuses by Venezuelan security forces during a wave of protests against Maduro.

Canada and five of Venezuela’s regional rivals — Argentina Colombia, Chile, Paraguay Peru — have also formally referred the matter to the court.

The Venezuelan government’s move came after opposition leader Juan Guaido defended foreign sanctions against the country imposed by Trump, following his return from an international tour.

Earlier a Venezuelan court ordered the detention of Guaido’s uncle, his lawyer said, after his client was held upon returning from an international tour in support of Guaido’s campaign to oust Maduro.

Juan Jose Marques was first held on Tuesday after arriving at the country’s main airport as part of a Guaido-led delegation to the US and Europe, during which Guaido received backing from US President Donald Trump.

“The intention is not to imprison Juan Marques because he is a criminal, but rather to attack Guaido,” the uncle’s lawyer, Joel Garcia, told reporters outside the military counterintelligence headquarters in northern Caracas.

“This is the true reason for Juan Marquez’s detention,” Garcia said, adding that Venezuelan authorities now had 45 days to come up with charges against Marquez.

Diosdado Cabello, one of the most senior officials in Maduro’s government, said on national television that Marquez had been hiding explosives inside a vest when he arrived at the airport.

But Guaido took to Twitter to reject that claim on Thursday, saying that TAP Portugal – the airline that operated their flight from Lisbon to Caracas – had subjected them to rigorous security measures that would have precluded the transport of explosives.

“The airport security protocol of European authorities is clear and strict. It was applied to each passenger who boarded the TAP Lisbon-Caracas flight,” he wrote.