- OAS chief calls for indictment and arrest warrant for Maduro
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, will file a request with the International Criminal Court in The Hague for an arrest warrant against Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro. "It's time for justice," he said on Wednesday (local time) at an emergency meeting of the organization in Washington.
Almagro held Venezuela's authoritarian leader responsible for the violence following the controversial election on Sunday, in which Maduro was declared the winner despite allegations of fraud. Several people died in the protests, according to independent organizations.
Before the election, Maduro had warned of a bloodbath and a civil war in the South American country if he were not re-elected. It is ironic that Maduro is now carrying out this bloodbath, Almagro said. He spoke of intent, deceit, and cruelty.
"It is time to file charges and request an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court against the main perpetrators, including Maduro," Almagro wrote on the X platform. "We will file this charge with a request for an arrest warrant," he also said at the meeting in Washington.
The International Criminal Court has been investigating Maduro's government for years over alleged crimes against humanity in the country. The government in Caracas rejects the accusations.
The OAS could not find a common line at the emergency meeting. A resolution calling for, among other things, the publication of detailed election results and a guarantee of freedom of assembly did not receive a majority. Seventeen member states voted in favor, eleven abstained, and five other countries did not send a representative to the meeting in Washington.
Founded in 1948, the OAS, with its headquarters in Washington, is supposed to strengthen peace on the American continent, according to its charter. However, there have been tensions within the organization from time to time. Maduro's government declared Venezuela's unilateral withdrawal from the organization years ago and accused it of serving "imperialism."
The United States, being a member state of the Organization of American States (OAS), did not vote in favor of the resolution calling for the publication of election results and the guarantee of freedom of assembly in Venezuela. The United States, like several other countries, did not send a representative to the emergency meeting in Washington.
