The British government’s withdrawal of recognition from President Maduro’s government in Venezuela is intended to remove any legal obstacle to foreign intervention in that country. The attempts to use force against Maduro, directed by US imperialism, can now be undertaken without concern for international law. This is the key significance of the withdrawal of recognition. It is not some additional or secondary measure taken by imperialism against Venezuelan socialism, but rather it is fundamental to removing any international legal obligation against sabotage and coup mongering.
It has long been held in established international law that every independent state is entitled to be represented by a government that is ‘habitually obeyed by the bulk of the population of that state and which exercises authority within its territory’[1] and denying this right denies the independence of the state. This is the very purpose of imperialist manoeuvres with respect to its ‘recognition’ of the wretched failed putschist, and established associate of criminals, Juan Guaidó – an individual increasingly rejected even by his own narrow constituency within Venezuela.
Normally, other governments should not be concerned with the changes in composition or form of any other government, or the nature of the change process, for example, a revolution, and indeed they are in principle under legal obligation to recognise any government that has the willing obedience of the bulk of the population. This is a legal, not a political or diplomatic, view. A government that is refused recognition is deprived of many of the prerogatives of international personality. It is often refused jurisdictional immunities and cannot appear as plaintiff in foreign courts. The acts of its judicial, legislative and executive bodies are treated as invalid, and it is often denied protection under international law, in this case especially the protection against foreign assistance to forces which may rise in rebellion against it.
Critics of the British government who argue that it is dancing to US imperialism’s tune, do not wish to admit that this dance is a partnership of mutual interest. The spread of socialist revolution across Latin America would threaten British capitalism’s global investments, thus it shamelessly denies the Venezuela government’s use of its own money, held as gold, at the Bank of England. However, at the same time, the British government has no real choice but to recognise the Maduro government as a matter of fact. The British government has an ambassador in Caracas and the Maduro-appointed Venezuelan ambassador to London remains in her post, proving the British government’s recognition of the Maduro government in practice. The unprincipled behaviour of Boris Johnson’s cynical government is in line with all its other policies, domestic and international: hypocrisy, double-dealing and deceit. The open rejection of the facts of the last Venezuelan election, presenting it in a shamelessly distorted fashion, including outright lies, clearly breaches the basic principle of international law that facts alone determine the case, and is a gross interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela.
Alvaro Michaels
1 Lauterpacht H, Recognition of Governments: I Columbia Law Review Vol. 45, No. 6, Nov 1945, pp. 815-864
