The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, called Tuesday for a “fair trial” for the ousted president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who was captured on January 3 along with his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas after a US military intervention, and then transferred to New York, where they face drug trafficking charges.
“In this case, now that President Maduro has been detained, what one asks for is always a fair trial. That is what must be requested, so that truly in everything, for everyone and in any circumstance – and in this particular case – there must be speed and justice,” the president said during her morning press conference.
Sheinbaum reiterated Mexico’s position of rejecting US intervention, stating that “regardless” of one’s opinion of Maduro’s presidency or the Venezuelan government, her government condemns Washington’s “invasion.”
“We must recover our history, our constitution, and what each one says about it,” she said.
She recalled that Mexico defends “non-intervention, the peaceful resolution of disputes,” and noted that even “if a country is very small internationally, we are all equal.”
“That is why we speak of the legal equality of states. International cooperation for development, which is what I mentioned yesterday. The best way to help a country is international cooperation for development. Respect, protection, and promotion of human rights,” she asserted.
Since Maduro’s detention on January 3, Mexico has expressed its rejection of Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela and has defended the sovereignty of nations.
On Sunday, it issued a joint statement with Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Spain, and Uruguay rejecting “the military actions unilaterally carried out on Venezuelan territory” and expressing “concern about any attempt at governmental control, administration, or external appropriation of natural or strategic resources.”