Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza sent the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday the book “The Art of Sanctions” and an article titled “Evaluating the Trump Administration’s Approach to Sanctions: Venezuela,” both written by Richard Nephew, advisor of former US President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden on the imposition of sanctions against the South American nation.
The Venezuelan foreign minister wrote on his Twitter account @jaarreaza: “The conclusions of both publications show the criminal nature of unilateral coercive measures, whose aim, as confessed by the author, is to cause pain.”
“Nephew extols the Trump administration for its policy of sanctions against Venezuela, but he recognizes they didn’t work,” added the chief of the Bolivarian Diplomacy for Peace, who also shared the links to both publications, “for the Venezuelan people and the world to learn precisely these confessions.”
“International Law does not protect unilateral actions that cause death and pain,” stressed Arreaza.
Venezuela filed a referral in the ICC in February, 2020, in The Hague, the Netherlands, and has progressively been adding documents containing legal explanations and foundations needed to conduct this investigation.
The arguments introduced by Venezuela compile those calls by the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, rapporteurs on food, on external debt, on democratic and equitable international order, the International Red Cross, as well as different governments and regional organizations that have issued statements rejecting the illegal sanctions against Venezuela, Iran and the criminal blockade against Cuba.
Likewise, Venezuela has introduced statements and speeches delivered by the US Government expressing the directives implemented against Venezuela and aiming at a “regime change” without measuring the consequences in the face of the Venezuelan people’s suffering.