VenEconomy: Is the Joy of Venezuela's Maduro Temporary? 
 From the Editors of VenEconomy
Latin American Herald Tribune
September 3, 2015

Nicolás Maduro and what is left of Venezuela's ruling elite still believe they can get away with it, out of the reach of the national and international justice.

They may have reasons for that, if we took into account that Maduro seems to have beaten Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos during a recent OAS meeting of foreign ministers. That was the first scenario where the clarification of the Colombia-Venezuela border situation was being sought, a situation in which the despotism of the criminal government of Maduro with multiple violations of human rights against Colombians and Venezuelan nationals became evident.

During the meeting called by Santos as a matter of urgency, once again it deprived the political and economic interest of many of its governments – especially those of Unasur and CARICOM – as Colombia's proposal was turned down by a single vote after not having obtained the 18 needed.

The proposal got backing from 17 foreign ministers, including that of Colombia, and two governments that had close ties with the Venezuela of the late Hugo Chávez (Chile and El Salvador.) Colombia was voted against by five countries – obviously including Venezuela – and foreign ministers of the governments with a close bond to the Maduro government (Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Haiti) and had 11 abstentions, among them, from two unconditional countries with the Chávez government (Brazil and Argentina) plus Panama, which was the surprise vote that saved Maduro's day. The truth is that Venezuela got away with it, for now, and the crisis will be "discussed" at Unasur, which already announced it will be sending a "commission" to see the events taking place at the border.

It can be said that Santos had a taste of his own medicine, and perhaps he even recalled the many times he supported the Bolivarian revolution with his vote to put off debates on the situation of human rights, political prisoners and the political situation in Venezuela. The most recent was on March 14 of 2014, when with his vote he prevented a presentation of the then-lawmaker María Corina Machado, who was trying to warn about the situation in Venezuela.

What Maduro did not seem to expect was the prompt response of Santos, who that same night at a press conference with the national and international press gave a clear message of rejection to the decision of the foreign ministers and announced that he will take the border issue to the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and several other international bodies if necessary. He even announced that the Attorney General's Office of Colombia, with its own autonomy, was collecting the proper evidence and was seriously considering to accuse the Maduro government of crimes against humanity.

If the ruling of the Attorney General of Colombia is successful, things may go bad for Maduro, José Gregorio Vielma Mora (the governor of Táchira state) and everyone else involved in these dramatic and violent days of mass deportation of Colombian citizens.

It should be noted that if a complaint on charges against humanity is made before the IACHR, the defendants would be natural persons (that is to say, Maduro and everybody else directly involved in violations of human rights at the Colombia-Venezuela border.) This would be so because according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 25. Individual criminal responsibility), the Court only has jurisdiction to adjudicate crimes committed by natural persons, not States or governments.

It must be added that such a narrow vote is an unprecedented fact in a OAS under the control of Chávez, which is a defeat for the hegemony of the Venezuelan government. This could mean that things may not turn out so well for Maduro and his gang in the long term.

Let's also keep in mind that the Government's "checkbook" to continue buying allegiances is not so full of petrodollars anymore. It shouldn't be overstepping the mark for its own good.

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