The secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, called for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant against Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro in Wednesday for committing a “bloodbath” against protesters.
Almagro made the call for the arrest warrant against Maduro during his participation in an extraordinary session of OAS’s permanent council held on Wednesday in Washington. Almagro invited members of the regional international organization to join his request.
“Maduro announced a bloodbath. He delivered, he’s delivering, 17 dead,” Almagro said. “I recognize that it was something that made an impact when he said it. I recognize that it is something that impacts me much more when he is doing it.”
“There is premeditation, treachery, brutal impulse, ferocity, superior advantage. It is time for justice and we are going to request the imputation of those charges with arrest warrant and all those who want to make referat of the case, are welcome,” he continued.
Nationwide protests erupted in Venezuela against the socialist Maduro regime following the sham presidential election held on Sunday, July 28. The Venezuelan National Electoral Center (CNE) claims that Maduro “won” the fraudulent event and has thus been “reelected” for an additional six-year term that will begin in January 2025.
Watch: Billboard of Maduro Set Ablaze Amid Venezuelan Election Protests
The Venezuelan opposition contested the results, publishing evidence of ballot tallies from local voting centers nationwide that shows their candidate, 74-year-old former diplomat Edmundo González, was the actual winner on Sunday.
The Maduro regime has not published the sham election’s final “results” at press time. The refusal to publish results that demonstrate Maduro’s “victory” has led several countries – such as the United States, Argentina, and Chile – to question the socialist dictator’s claimed victory. Maduro responded by breaking ties with seven Latin American countries that called the sham election into question.
The protests have so far left roughly a dozen dead. Exact death tolls have not been confirmed at press time. Foro Penal, a Venezuelan non-governmental organization, stated that as of Thursday morning it has confirmed 11 deaths and 672 arbitrary arrests. Most of these have reportedly taken place in the capital district and the states of Anzoátegui and Carabobo. The Maduro regime’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab claimed on Wednesday that 1,062 people have so far been arrested for their participation in the nationwide protests.
Almagro’s call for an arrest warrant against Maduro comes after the OAS failed to pass a resolution that demanded Venezuela’s electoral authorities release the vote tallies that corroborate Maduro’s alleged victory and allow the results to be verified by independent observation organizations to ensure their legitimacy.
The resolution – jointly presented by the United States, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay – received 17 of the 18 required votes to pass in accordance with OAS regulations. Brazil and Colombia, led by the Maduro-friendly leftist Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Gustavo Petro, were among the countries that abstained, while Mexico chose not to attend the meeting.
The Maduro regime withdrew Venezuela from the OAS in 2017 at a time when Venezuela faced another intense period of protests. The ruling socialists claimed that their decision to have the country leave the international organization was in response to an alleged plot led by the United States that sought to oust them from power.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.