Who are the Venezuelan soldiers investigated by the Argentine courts and why?

The Argentine federal prosecutor, Carlos Stornelli, charged 14 Venezuelan soldiers with having committed alleged crimes against humanity during the anti-government demonstrations of 2014, based on a complaint filed by the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ, for its acronym in English). , taking into account the jurisprudence of Argentina in the field of Human Rights.

Venezuela lived, for several weeks at the beginning of 2014, massive anti-government protests that were repressed with “brutal use of force.” Dozens of people “who were not armed” and even “bystanders” were detained and many suffered “abuses that included violent beatings, electric shocks, burns” and/or were forced to remain “on their knees, without moving, for several hours.” says Human Right Watch (HRW).

The case was opened based on the principle of universal jurisdiction which, according to the United Nations, “confers competence to a State to prosecute and punish the perpetrator of a crime, whatever the place where it was committed and whatever the nationality of its perpetrator or victim”.

It is considered one of the “primary” tools to guarantee the prevention of “serious violations” of international humanitarian law or the application of “pertinent criminal sanctions”, should they occur, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). ).

“In accordance with the 1949 Geneva Conventions, States parties have an obligation to search for offenders suspected of serious violations regardless of their nationality and the place where the alleged offense took place, and must bring them before their own courts or surrender them. to another state party to be tried,” the ICRC specifies.

At the end of June, the Preliminary Questions Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) authorized the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, to resume the investigation of Venezuela for crimes against humanity, arguing that the Venezuelan State “is not investigating or has not investigated criminal acts that may constitute crimes.” The government of President Nicolás Maduro formalized the appeal of the decision

Who is the prosecutor who opened the case?

Stornelli is a 63-year-old lawyer with twenty years at the head of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Federal Criminal and Correctional Number 4 of Argentina, who between 2007 and 2010 was Minister of Security of the province of Buenos Aires.

He has presided over judicial investigations against former Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and officials from her government, and was also embroiled in an alleged extortion scandal.

Who are the military?

The Argentine newspaper El Clarín published the names of the fourteen military personnel under investigation, including a former pro-governor.

-Major General Justo José Noguera Pietri, commander of the Bolivarian National Guard in 2014

Until 2021 he was governor of Bolívar state, in southern Venezuela. He was Commander General of the National Guard between 2013 and 2014. Later he became an active reserve (retirement), but he has held “important positions” in the Guayana region, says the Citizen Control Civil Association, dedicated to the control of sectors Security, Defense and the National Armed Forces (FAN).

The governments of the United States and Canada have sanctioned him for being allegedly responsible for the “deterioration of the situation in Venezuela” and for being considered “high risk in terms of money laundering, financing of terrorism, and financing of the proliferation of weapons of destruction.” massive”.

-Brigadier General Arquímedes Herrera Ruso, commander of the No. 2 region of Carabobo in 2014

He has held various positions, including Secretary of Security for the Carabobo state. According to the Poderopedia portal, he was in charge of the military that “attacked” the civilian population that was protesting between February and May 2014 in the city of Valencia.

-Division General José Dionisio Goncalves Mendoza, commander of the People’s Guard in 2014

-Colonel Ephraín Verdú Torrelles, second commander of the Tocuyito Urban Security Detachment, Carabobo state in 2014

-Lieutenant Colonel Frank Alonzo Osuna Díaz, commander of Detachment N*24 of the Bolivarian National Guard in 2014

-Lieutenant Luis Amaya Chirino

-Second Sergeant José Urdaneta Urdaneta

-Sergeant second Jhonny Mallarino Miranda

-Sergeant Luis Reyes González

-Sergeant Jorvy Pennaloza Ramírez

-Sergeant second Roger Alejo Durán

-First Sergeant Johan Ramírez Hernández.

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