Lawyers in Argentina call for ICC probe into US actions in Caribbean

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: La Iguana TV
Today 08:41

During a conference in Venezuela, legal experts called for international action to defend sovereignty and human rights amid the rise US aggression in the region.

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Participants at the American Association of Jurists of Argentina, which was held in Venezuela. (@ale_rusconi / X)

The American Association of Jurists of Argentina has put forward a proposal to file a formal complaint before the International Criminal Court (ICC) against US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, accusing them of crimes committed against Venezuelan migrants and fishermen from several nationalities in the Caribbean and the Pacific regions.

The proposal was announced by the president of the Association, Claudia Rocca, during the Meeting of Jurists in Defense of International Law, held in Venezuela on Thursday and Friday.

Claudia Roca, presidenta de la Asociación de Juristas de Argentina hizo dos propuestas, una de ellas es llevar a Donald Trump y Marco Rubio y otros actores intelectuales ante la CPI por los crímenes de lesa humanidad que están cometiendo con el despliegue militar injustificado en… pic.twitter.com/qGD4SDTC8x
— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR) November 13, 2025

“The proposal is to create a working group to jointly prepare a complaint before the ICC against Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and all the material or intellectual authors of these crimes,” Rocca said before a delegation of legal experts and representatives from multiple countries.

Rocca explained that these crimes fall under definitions established by the Nuremberg Statute and the 1954 Draft Code of Crimes Against the Peace and Security of Mankind. She cited “inhuman acts such as murder, extermination, slavery, deportation or persecution against civilian populations for racial, social, political, religious or cultural reasons.”

She added that the initiative aims to confront impunity and defend fundamental international legal principles. “We cannot allow them to take away the international order, nor the respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of peoples,” Rocca emphasized, referring to ongoing US aggression toward Venezuela and other nations in the region.

The meeting concluded on Friday with remarks by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who condemned US military maneuvers near Venezuelan waters and drew attention to global anti-war sentiment.

Maduro warns of US buildup: 'Do they want another Gaza in S. America?'

Maduro called on the people of the United States to play a "heroic role" in halting what could become “a tragedy for our entire American continent.”

Maduro emphasized that peace and international law would ultimately prevail in Venezuela, asserting that the Venezuelan people "will know how to secure their stability and their full sovereign right to exist."

The Venezuelan president also raised a pointed question: “Do they want another Gaza in South America?” Addressing the US public, he added, “Humanity is already suffering enough from the pain caused by the genocide in Gaza.”

US announces Op. Southern Spear

This follows the US' launch of a new military campaign in Latin America, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, under the pretext of the Trump administration's "war on drugs", which has so far yielded fatal operations and skyrocketing tensions amid the growing militarization of the region.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that, under President Donald Trump's directive, the Pentagon launched the operation, claiming it would "secure our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people."

Southern Command had initially introduced Operation Southern Spear in January, outlining the use of advanced technologies, including long-dwell robotic surface vessels, small robotic interceptor boats, and vertical take-off and landing robotic air units to support counter-narcotics efforts.

ALBA slams US interventionism

Meanwhile, Venezuela maintains that what Washington truly seeks is regime change and resource theft.

In this context, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) warned that if Washington intensifies its pressure campaign into “reckless military aggression” against a sovereign nation, the entire Caribbean basin would be pushed into “unprecedented turmoil.”

Any attempt to impose force, it added, would immediately threaten political, economic, and social stability across Latin America and the Caribbean. The alliance reiterated that the region “must remain a zone of peace.”

According to the statement, the US is not defending democratic principles, but once again “recycling the same interventionist agenda rooted in the Monroe Doctrine.” It accused Washington of seeking to revive “an oligarchic political class defeated by the Venezuelan people and rejected by the region,” adding that similar attempts “have failed before and will fail again.”