Venezuela quits the ICC as Trump says the country is not ready for elections

Where things stand

Venezuela's post-Maduro transition is narrowing on two fronts at once. The government announced on Friday its definitive withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, the tribunal that since 2017 has been investigating possible crimes against humanity in the country, according to Folha de S.Paulo, closing from Caracas's side a nearly decade-long chapter of external scrutiny. The same day, Donald Trump said Venezuela is not yet ready to hold elections, a remark that came nearly seven months after the capture of Nicolás Maduro and that, as Folha frames it, cools expectations of a swift return to democratic normality. No date or process for any vote has been indicated in the available reporting, and how the withdrawal will affect the ICC's existing investigation remains unaddressed. The political track has now also lost its most prominent opposition figure. María Corina Machado, the opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said on Sunday she will not take part in US-backed talks with the de facto government of Delcy Rodríguez, the South China Morning Post reports, with the negotiations scheduled to proceed despite her refusal. That leaves a US-sponsored process moving ahead without the opposition's central figure at the table, at the same time as Washington signals no urgency on elections and Caracas withdraws from the main external mechanism of accountability. Machado's reasons and the scope, participants and timing of the talks are not specified in the available reporting.

The International Criminal Court has kept Venezuela under investigation since 2017 over possible crimes against humanity committed in the country, according to Folha de S.Paulo. That scrutiny made the ICC one of the principal external checks on the Venezuelan government, which has now announced it is leaving the court for good. The political backdrop shifted roughly seven months ago with the capture of Nicolás Maduro, an event that raised expectations of a transition and eventual elections. Those expectations are now being tempered from Washington, with Trump saying the country is not yet ready to vote. The topic tracks how Venezuela's legal exposure and its electoral timetable evolve from here.