November 9th, 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. With it, a large part of mankind was liberated from the shackles of communism. Few events have been more important in history. Communism killed more than 100 million people and enslaved almost half of the world's population.
However, what should be a celebration is overshadowed by the horrifying events that take place in Venezuela. Since Hugo Chávez and his current successor, Nicolás Maduro, installed the so-called "21st century socialism" following the Cuban communist model, every metric linked to human rights has catastrophically declined. Thus, the most basic individual rights, freedom of speech, free press, and private property have been severely limited, if not completely abolished. While political prisoners count by the thousand, and many others suffer from famine, more than 3 million Venezuelan refugees seek asylum abroad.
In September 2018 the governments of Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, and Peru officially petitioned the International Criminal Court of The Hague to investigate and prosecute the flagrant crimes against humanity committed by the illegitimate and dictatorial government of Nicolás Maduro. The request cites to arbitrary detentions, assassinations, extrajudicial executions, torture, and lack of due process.
According to testimony given by the former Attorney General of Venezuela, Luisa Ortega Díaz, only between 2015 and 2017, 8,290 murders were carried out by chavista agents. Arrests sanctioned due to political reasons happen on a daily basis, as well as the violent actions of the "collectives" and repression against the civil society.
The images of tanks and military forces trampling on protesters are eloquent of the savagery with which the dictator Maduro is willing to subjugate civilians.
It is for all this that Fundación Internacional Bases supports the request made by Argentina and five other countries and we ask Dr. Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, to investigate crimes committed by Chavez regime in Venezuela and prosecute Nicolás Maduro for crimes against humanity.
"Among the peoples tormented by socialism, patriotic sentiment was turned into a suitcase. What is the use of a homeland where you cannot live?"
