The Argentine Forum for Democracy in the Region (Fader), led by Deputy Waldo Ezequiel Wolff, filed a criminal complaint against Daniel Ortega, from Nicaragua; Nicolás Maduro, from Venezuela and Miguel Díaz-Canel, from Cuba; to be investigated for crimes against humanity committed in their countries.
The demand was presented before the federal criminal court of Comodoro Py, on the occasion of the possible visit of these three leaders to Buenos Aires to participate in the VII Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) scheduled for January 24.
Argentine media report that the complaint fell to Federal Court number seven in charge of Sebastián Casanello, and Prosecutor’s Office number eleven, in charge of Germán Pollicita, and is processed under file 165/2023.
El Fader, according to the document sent to Justice, was born in August 2020, to “give support to Venezuelan, Cuban and Nicaraguan citizens fleeing autocracies in their countries”, and is made up of Waldo Wolff, Elisa Trotta, Karina Banfi, Daniel Sabsay, Santiago Kovadloff, Graciela Fernández Meijide, Ricardo López Murphy, Jorge Faurie, Alfredo Leuco, Maximiliano Ferraro, Jorge Ferronato, Eduardo Feinman, Alfredo Cornejo, Diego Guelar, Álvaro De Lamadrid, Paula Bertol, Brian Schapira, Héctor Schamis , Sabrina Ajmechet, Marcelo Birmajer, among others.
From the Argentine Forum for Democracy in the Region (FADER) we criminally denounce Maduro, Diaz Canel and Ortega for violation of human rights. President @alferdez, withdraw the invitation to Celac. Don’t appease dictators. #DictatorsNeverMore pic.twitter.com/NhPJSlqmN6
— WW (@WolffWaldo) January 18, 2023
The lawsuit is based on “numerous reports from prestigious international human rights organizations, such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) or Human Rights Watch, which account for the political persecution of civil organizations and individuals,” by these three heads of state.
The Argentine activist Elisa Trotta Gamus recalled that the Argentine federal justice is empowered to investigate these crimes against humanity since the Argentine Constitution recognizes the principle of universal jurisdiction.
In the same vein, the deputy Karina Banfi agreed to ensure that “Argentina cannot become a country that opens its doors to dictators. We have to be accompanying the victims in the search for truth, justice and non-repetition of these horrible crimes committed by the dictatorships of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua”.
We criminally denounce Maduro, Díaz-Canel and Ortega with the Argentine Forum for Democracy in the Region (FADER) for crimes against humanity in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. Inviting them to our country is an insult to democracy, @alferdez.#DictatorsNeverMore pic.twitter.com/tFjHb0giUW
— Karina Banfi ? (@KBanfi) January 18, 2023
El Fader highlights in his arguments that seven million Venezuelans have had to leave their country since the Chavista dictatorship broke out; and that many of them have been political prisoners and have suffered harassment and torture. “The same has happened in Cuba, a country where free elections have never been held since the Castro dictatorship took power in 1959,” he emphasized.
In the case of Nicaragua, they point out that more than 350 citizens have been murdered in recent years, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and half of the social organizations that provide assistance in the country’s neighborhoods have been closed.
The possible participation of the leaders of Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba in the Celac summit, which will be held in Buenos Aires, has been repudiated by the Argentine opposition who described them as “dictators” and called for a rejection in Congress.
This Wednesday the Block of National Deputies of the Radical Civic Union (UCR), through a statement, rejected the presence in Argentina of Maduro, Díaz Canel and Ortega. “His presence is a provocation to our country, to the democracies of Latin America, and above all to the Venezuelan, Nicaraguan and Cuban citizens who, fleeing from repression and hunger, sought to start a different life in Argentina,” they said.
They also assured that “Kirchnerism has spent several years squandering a long Argentine tradition in defense of human rights and democracy, which had placed our country in a place of international recognition in this matter.”
