Venezuela announced its departure from the International Criminal Court and the United States congratulated the government of Delcy Rodríguez

In a statement, the State Department welcomed the decision announced by the president in charge of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguezand assured that the new Venezuelan Government joins the efforts led by Washington to “dismantle” the Court.

“The ICC has been ‘investigating’ Nicolás Maduro since 2018 without any results“said the State Department, which accused the court of allocating resources to investigate and accuse citizens of countries with “competent and independent” judicial systems that never accepted its jurisdiction.

According to Washington, this action constitutes an example of “overreach”, “political bias” and “selective application of justice“.

The US Government also maintained that the Court “is not credible, independent or legitimate.”

The Administration of President Donald Trump highlighted that Maduro, detained in the United States, now faces US justice for the crimes he allegedly committed and concluded the statement with a call for all States parties abandon the Rome Statutefounding treaty of the ICC.

The US reaction came a day after the Venezuelan Government announced its “firm and irrevocable” decision to denounce the Rome Statute and begin the process of withdrawing from the Court.

The Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Félix Plasencia, maintained that the international court has “disproportionately” concentrated its investigations in African and Latin American countries and accused the court of act with a bias that responds to interests other than justice.

As he explained, on instructions from Rodríguez, the decision has already been communicated to the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres.

The acting president also accused the Court of having accumulated a history of actions directed against the countries of the so-called “global south” and defended that Venezuela is committed to international justice based on respect for sovereignty and international law.

For its part, the ICC regretted the Venezuelan decision and recalled that the withdrawal will not have immediate effect.

The court noted that, under the Rome Statute, Venezuela will remain a State party for one year since formal notification and must continue to cooperate with the investigations and procedures already initiated.

The investigation into alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela It has remained open since 2018, following a referral submitted by several States, and focuses on events that have occurred since 2017.

Although the then government of Nicolás Maduro tried to stop the process by claiming that the Venezuelan justice system was investigating these crimes, the Court authorized the resumption of the investigations in 2023.

Following the announcements by the Delcy Rodríguez government, two NGOs disagreed with the official decision.

Through a statement, released this Saturday, the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners demanded that the ICC Prosecutor’s Office continue “without delay” the investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed in the South American country since 2017 and preserve it for one year, until Venezuela’s departure from the entity is formalized.

Meanwhile, PROVIDEan NGO dedicated to the defense of human rights, rejected the determination of the Delcy Rodríguez government.

From that organization they mentioned that the Rome Statute establishes that the withdrawal “will not affect cooperation with the Court in relation to investigations and criminal proceedings with respect to which the withdrawing State had the duty to cooperate and which were initiated prior to the date on which the withdrawal took effect.”

“The cooperation obligations of the Venezuelan State are maintained, including compliance with arrest warrants that may be made public in the future,” the organization noted.

The US position on the ICC has historically been tense. The United States never ratified the Rome Statute and maintains that the court lacks jurisdiction over US citizens.

During his first term, Trump imposed sanctions against court officials for investigating possible war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan.

Although those measures were later lifted by President Joe Biden, Washington continued to reject any attempt by the ICC to exercise jurisdiction over citizens of countries that are not part of the court.

In his second term, Trump has resumed a confrontational stance with the Court, especially after actions related to Israel, and has insisted that the institution acts with political motivations and exceeds the mandate for which it was created.