Diplomatic conflict over Venezuela intensifies
The Venezuelan government explicitly accused Chile, Colombia, and Mexico on 23 September of complicity in an alleged assassination attempt on President Nicolás Maduro last month. The timing of the accusation was eye-catching. It came just ahead of these three countries appealing to the International Criminal Court (ICC), along with Canada, Paraguay, and Peru, to investigate the Maduro administration for human rights abuses, and right before Colombia’s President Iván Duque spearheaded efforts during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to win support for tightening the “diplomatic noose” to bring down “the dictatorship” in Venezuela, and for an international response to the country’s humanitarian crisis.