KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Opposition Leader Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Monday, questioned whether Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would be afforded a fair trial in the United States, where he faces drug-related charges.
The 25-page indictment made public Saturday accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the US. They could face life in prison if convicted.
“What has occurred in Venezuela is an undermining of the multilateral system and enthronement of unilateralism, and President Trump is not making any bones about it,” Gonsalves said.
The longest ever serving St. Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister, who has enjoyed a close relationship with Maduro, told a news conference he was skeptical that the Venezuelan President, who, along with his wife, had been seized by US military and law enforcement officials during the raid on Caracas last Saturday, would receive a fair trial.
Gonsalves pointed out that while federal prosecutors would claim the process is fair, even the President of the United States, Donald Trump, himself has repeatedly stated he could not get a fair trial in that same jurisdiction.
He argued that this skepticism is further justified by the historical tendency to use legal charges as a cover for political objectives.
Gonsalves said his argument also rests on the need to distinguish between genuine law enforcement and political or military operations, questioning whether the pursuit of Maduro was “law enforcement activity” in its simplest sense or was driven by motives such as regime change or control over oil and minerals.
He told reporters that the charges are currently only allegations that must be proven in a court of law and that the matter could, and perhaps should be addressed outside of a court of law through diplomatic channels.
Gonsalves, a lawyer, said standard legal procedures, such as extradition treaties and judicial processes, were being bypassed in favour of what he suggested was a more unilateral approach.
He said there was also “dangerous rhetoric” coming out of the United States, recalling a recent statement by a senior Republican lawmaker, whom he did not name, that “the position is clear in our hemisphere, no country will be permitted to go against the interest or the policies of the government of the United States.
“We have this skepticism as to whether Nicolas Maduro would have a fair trial in New York City,” he said, adding, “we have to have recourse to the United Nations system, broken as it is, and the United Nations Security Council become permanently seized of this matter for practical resolution.”
Gonsalves said he does not know whether the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will issue a joint statement to the UN Security Council, which began a meeting on the Venezuela issue on Monday.
“Because I think it is now an open secret that different countries in CARICOM have different positions. We must not denounce CARICOM for that because CARICOM is a community of independent sovereign states.
“It is not a federal government; it is not a single state, though one of the purposes of CARICOM is to coordinate foreign policy. But it has to be coordinated to the point that divergences can be accommodated.
“Clearly from the statement by the Bureau, they agreed on the principles, but it is the application of those principles now…to the factual situation,” Gonsalves said, adding that the national interests of the regional countries “will inform their hesitation.
“I don’t want to add to the cannibalism. I have been a prime minister for a long time, and I have a particular responsibility. If I were the head of an NGO, I might speak in a way that is emotionally satisfying to some but not offer a possible solution.
“So that the UN has to be seized of this, even though the American administration has said that in our backyard is the Dunroe Doctrine …and don’t go against our interest and don’t go against our policies.
Gonsalves aid to the region has to use the “instruments that are available”, and clearly, the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations system are available, given that realistically, he does not expect China and Russia, close allies of Caracas, to be militarily involved in a battle with the Americans in this hemisphere.
Though the consequences of this phase of influence and the role of geography in this unilateralist policy may not be very comfortable for the government and people of Taiwan, given threats across the Taiwan Strait from the People’s Republic of China.
Gonsalves said the US actions represented a breach of international law and a departure from the UN Charter’s principles of sovereignty and non-interference, describing the US policy as an implementation of the “Monroe Doctrine” or what he called the Donroe Doctrine (After Trump).
The Opposition Leader called for a “mature conversation” between Washington and Caracas, suggesting that CARICOM could serve as an interlocutor to facilitate a peaceful, diplomatic resolution rather than a contentious judicial or military one.
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