The president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, announced on Sunday the launch of an official investigation into the extrajudicial killings committed by US forces in the Caribbean Sea since September 2.
“What has been happening since September 2 in the Caribbean Sea is clearly illegal, clearly illegitimate, and violates International Humanitarian Law, the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and also contravenes the laws related to navigation, the laws of the sea, and the laws of war,” Rodríguez stated, according to the news website Golobivisión.
The president of the National Assembly, who met with relatives of the victims of these attacks this Sunday, cited Article 12 of the 1949 Geneva Convention, which states that the wounded or sick “shall be respected and protected in all circumstances” and “shall be treated and assisted humanely,” prohibiting any attack on their lives.
He also cited Additional Protocol I of 1977, which in Article 41 prohibits attacks on persons hors de combat, such as the wounded, unarmed, or shipwrecked, referring to reports of second attacks by US forces to kill alleged drug traffickers wounded in US bombings.
Rodríguez explained that they would not disclose the identities of the relatives of the deceased with whom they met, “since they have been receiving threats from sectors and individuals who have a vested interest in preventing them from telling the truth and from clarifying the facts.”
The National Assembly will meet on Monday to form a special commission to investigate these “extrajudicial killings” and provide support to the victims’ families. Furthermore, the Public Prosecutor’s Office will be asked to initiate the corresponding criminal investigation and protect the victims’ families.
Rodríguez indicated that some experts believe that if these events had occurred during wartime, “we would be talking about war crimes.”
At least 83 people have died in recent weeks in US military attacks against alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific Oceans, actions condemned by the UN and human rights organizations as extrajudicial killings. Now Washington is threatening to expand its attacks on Venezuelan soil.
