‘The International Criminal Court divides the Americas. Mexico is the 100th country to sign the Treaty of Rome, which consecrates the International Criminal Court's creation: to Washington's great displeasure.

Mexico has once again proved wrong its reputation as a country in the shadow of the United States. By announcing last Friday that it was becoming the hundredth country to ratify the article of the statute of Rome consecrating the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Mexico has given itself a symbol. It has also reiterated its refusal to sign any kind of immunity agreement with the United States.  

A slap in the face for the big neighbour: the Bush administration over the last few years has not stinted in its efforts to abort the ICC, this tool the international community has equipped itself with to sanction the authors of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. "They started at first with an extremely high-pressure campaign to avert having sixty countries ratify the Treaty of Rome," relates Amnesty International's Francis Perrin. "Faced with the failure of that strategy, they wanted to force countries to sign immunity agreements that theoretically would prohibit them from transferring American citizens to the Court," he continues. With a weighty argument: if a country refused to sign one of those immunity agreements, the American administration would reserve the right to cut off all military aid, and even the financing of training for judges or anti-AIDS programs.  

Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, as well as Costa Rica and even Trinidad and Tobago have rejected this blackmail. And have paid dearly for that rebellion: according to the Coalition for the ICC (CICC), a galaxy of NGOs in favour of international justice, twelve Latin American countries have already lost their aid.’  

The International Criminal Court Divides The Americas