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IN RECENT DAYS, the normalization of relations between the government of Gustavo Petro and the dictatorial regime of Nicolás Maduro has been in the news. This Wednesday the new ambassador of Colombia, who traveled to Caracas to present his credentials, assured that they would be evaluating the withdrawal of the lawsuit that his country issued against Maduro before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Venezuela.
During an interview in Bloomberg, Armando Benedetti was asked: Will Petro’s government withdraw the request for investigation to the government of Maduro that Duque pushed before the ICC, to which the ambassador answered: “I think so. What Duque did was a mistake in foreign relations”.
In the conversation, Benedetti also defended the good relationship of the Petro government with the Maduro regime. “I am pleasantly surprised how they have received us with affection, with expectations. I wanted to put together a language of optimism, joy… to leave Maduro out of the conversation. It cannot be that two brotherly countries separate. That is the language I believe we have to look for”.
Complaint against Maduro at the ICC
In 2017, Colombia, under the initiative of then-Senator Iván Duque, it was one of the main countries that denounced Maduro before the Criminal Court for the systematic violation of human rights. In 2021, President Duque welcomed that the ICC Office of the Prosecutor concluded that there are indications that the Venezuelan regime has committed crimes against humanity and opened a formal investigation.
En el año 2017 presentamos denuncia contra Nicolás Maduro ante Corte Penal Internacional y hoy celebramos que la Fiscalía de ese tribunal, concluya que se cometieron crímenes de lesa humanidad en Venezuela que requieren investigación formal. Seguiremos denunciando esa dictadura. pic.twitter.com/YqbKoM5eTi
— Iván Duque 🇨🇴 (@IvanDuque) August 12, 2021
Williams Perdomo es periodista y escritor, especializado en las fuentes Política y Cultura.