Two bitter political rivals, Venezuela and Colombia, saw contrasting decisions by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in just one week. The Hague-based tribunal opened a formal investigation against the Nicolás Maduro administration for potential crimes against humanity following anti-government protests in 2017, while almost simultaneously shelving a 17-year old probe on Colombia’s military and paramilitary murders.
At the heart of both announcements was the recently-appointed ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, who toured the region between October 25 and November 3 and met with high-level authorities in both nations, including presidents, Supreme Court justices, diplomats, and civil society representatives.
On...