The fall of an authoritarian regime is always good news, the way in which it ends may affect that country’s future. The illegal way in which Nicolás Maduro has been taken to the United States to face trial on charges of narco-trafficking has obliterated the notion that Venezuelan authorities were under investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity committed over the last decade.
Venezuela ratified the Rome Statute on 7th June 2000, the ICC may exercise its jurisdiction over Rome Statute crimes committed on the territory of Venezuela or by its nationals from 1st July 2002 onwards.
In fact, in February 2018, the ICC announced that it would open preliminary probes into alleged crimes against humanity performed by Venezuelan authorities. In May 2018, a Panel of Independent International Experts appointed by the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) concluded that reasonable grounds existed to believe that crimes against humanity had been committed in Venezuela dating back to, at least, 12 February 2014. It also recommended OAS invite States Parties to the ICC Statute to refer the situation of Venezuela to the Office of the Prosecutor, and to call for the opening of an investigation into those facts (Art. 14 of the Court’s Statute).
In September 2020, a UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela published their findings citing evidence of unlawful executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture in the country since 2014, calling for further action by the ICC, along with justice and reparations for the victims and their families as the Government of Venezuela had not investigated ‘the possible systematic occurrence’ of the crimes against humanity charged and ‘the existence of patterns and policies’, having ‘expressly rejected’ these allegations and characterised instead the incidents as ‘isolated […] constituting ordinary crimes’ without any prior investigation into these allegations.
In March 2024, the Appeals Chamber rejected the appeal of Venezuela against Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision of 27 June 2023 and confirmed the “Decision authorising the resumption of the investigation”.
During the December 2025 Assembly of State Parties, the ICC Deputy Prosecutor announced the closing of their field office in Caracas because Venezuelan authorities were not genuinely intending to investigate and prosecute under domestic law, and were not cooperating (so the field office was useless). In response, Venezuela threatened to withdraw from the Court’s jurisdiction.
Those investigations should continue, the crimes committed in Venezuela, under both Chavez and Maduro should be tried for the sake of the victims and as a reminder that the affirmation of the Rule of Law can be an effective way to pursue national reconciliation and international sustainable peace through the affirmation of justice.
Those who have always opposed or criticised Maduro, those who have denounced his illegal transfer to New York and, most of all, those who have established the ICC should activate all available mechanisms, starting from the Blocking Statute, to defend and support the International Criminal Court.