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Foreign Minister Ampuero delivers letter from President Piñera to OAS Secretary General

Sunday, June 3, 2018

This Sunday, after arriving in Washington, USA, where he will participate in the 48th OAS General Assembly, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Ampuero, delivered a letter from President Sebastián Piñera to the Secretary General of the hemispheric organization, Luis Almagro.
In the letter, the President refers to the investigation carried out by a panel of independent experts appointed by Secretary Almagro to analyze testimonies and complaints from Venezuelan citizens. This Panel of Experts concluded that there is sufficient basis to consider that crimes against humanity have been committed in that country, according to the OAS this week.
In this context, in the letter delivered today to Secretary General Almagro, President Piñera stated that "our country, given the conclusiveness of the information gathered there, considers it necessary that this evidence be addressed to the Prosecutor's Office by the International Panel of Experts, in accordance with the procedures established by the Rome Statute, in order to ensure that its results are reviewed and contrasted with the evidence that the Prosecutor's Office itself has gathered".
The message of the letter delivered today is as follows:


Santiago, June 3, 2018.


Secretary General of the Organization of American States
Mr. Luis Almagro Lemes
It is with great interest and concern that I have read the Report of the OAS General Secretariat and the Panel of Independent International Experts, which establishes the possible perpetration of crimes against humanity in Venezuela, published on May 29.
The facts described, the result of the investigation and evidence gathered, show the commitment and efforts of the OAS and the Commission of Experts to denounce the crimes against humanity, the humanitarian catastrophe that the Venezuelan people are going through and the reprehensible actions of the administration of President Nicolás Maduro.
International action to call for the recovery of democracy and respect for human rights in Venezuela is not only necessary, but indispensable.
In that regard, Chile is aware of the importance of safeguarding international institutions, whose vitality is essential for the due protection and respect of the substantive rights of the human person.
In this regard, I am convinced that our role as a State Party to the Rome Statute is to preserve the role that the community of nations has recognized for the International Criminal Court and the framework that regulates its actions, reflected in the complementarity principle.
We must recognize and respect the independent and impartial work of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Under this regime, Chile will always claim from Venezuela its obligation to cooperate with the Office of the Prosecutor before any event that is the subject of the Preliminary Examination.
It is for these reasons that our country, given the strength of the information gathered there, considers it necessary that this evidence be addressed to the Office of the Prosecutor by the Panel of International Experts, in accordance with the procedures established by the Rome Statute, in order to ensure that its results are reviewed and contrasted with the evidence that the Office itself has gathered.
Thanking and supporting you for your personal involvement in this important matter, I greet you warmly.

S.E. Sebastián Piñera Echenique
President of the Republic of Chile