MIAMI – The United States would be demanding that the Venezuelan regime comply with the Extradition Treaty signed between Washington and Caracas in 1922, as a judicial mechanism to achieve the surrender of at least twenty financial operators linked to the so-called Cartel of the Suns, despite the fact that the current Venezuelan Constitution prohibits the extradition of national citizens.
According to information published by the newspaper La Razón, the Administration of President Donald Trump considers that the bilateral treaty remains fully in force and represents a legal means to prosecute key figures of the criminal network that, according to Washington, supports the Chavista regime.
Extradition for “serious” crimes
The 1922 treaty provides for extradition for serious crimes such as homicide, kidnapping, fraud, embezzlement and forgery, expressly excluding political crimes. Likewise, it establishes the principle of specialty – which limits the trial to the facts that motivated the surrender – and clarifies that none of the parties is obliged to extradite their own citizens, a central point in the current legal controversy.
According to La Razón, the ruler in charge of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, would submit the treaty to the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, controlled by Chavismo, to obtain an interpretation that allows its application. The eventual decision has generated concern among jurists due to the impact it could have on Venezuelan constitutional doctrine.
Constitutionalists cited in the article maintain that the Constitution does not automatically repeal treaties signed before its entry into force and that these remain valid if they have not been formally denounced. They add that constitutional article 154 would allow pre-existing obligations to be executed without the need for legislative approval, as long as new international commitments are not created.
The US demand would have allegedly been raised in Caracas during meetings with senior officials of the regime, within the framework of a broader Washington strategy to prosecute the main financial operators of Chavismo and weaken the criminal structure that, according to the US, has sustained power in Venezuela for more than two decades.
judicial investigation
The US government demanded Delcy Rodríguez’s cooperation in the judicial investigation it is carrying out against nine people from Chavismo, according to a Spanish newspaper.
The request contemplates not only the possibility of subjecting those investigated to interrogations, but also access to financial documentation essential for judicial investigations.
Among those required is mentioned Nicolás Maduro Guerra, son of the overthrown dictator; the questioned businessmen Alex Saab and Raúl Gorrín and Walter Jacob Gavidia Flores, eldest son of Cilia Flores, who is imprisoned with her husband Maduro in the US for federal crimes.
Washington also asks Rodríguez to allow mechanisms for the delivery or transfer of members or those close to the regime if required.
